We continued with our Renaissance history block last week. We studied the biographies and works of Michelangelo and Raphael. We are also reading an in-depth biography of Joan of Arc which has given us a picture of the political conflicts between France and England during this period. Through studying the biographies of these figures, the students not only learn about the individuals, but they have also gained an understanding of the social and political climates of the period. The students have particularly enjoyed studying Renaissance art. They continue to hold strong opinions about their favorite artists and works and love debating their preferences with their classmates.

The class began studying portraiture in art class last month, and as part of our main lesson work, they have been drawing portraits of each of the artists we have studied. If you haven't seen your student's work from last week, ask them to show you. They acquired skills quickly and have created some beautiful artwork!

In math, we are wrapping up our Geometry unit and will go back to working on Algebra next week. We continued reviewing algebraic expressions, and they have done a great job retaining the concepts they learned prior to the holiday break.

The class will be presenting a puppet show for Chinese New Year next month. They worked together to create the story line for the script, and they are building the puppets in handwork class. They are working on translating and learning the script in Mandarin class. They will present the show to the student body in February for the Chinese New Year holiday.