Discovering Da Vinci & Mona Madness

This week, 6th graders are learning about Leonardo Da Vinci (check out their Mirror Handwriting activity posted on Wednesday). We learned about how in his lifetime, Leonardo produced thousands of pages of notes, ideas and sketches of plants, animals, the human body, people, canals, contact lenses, bridges, parachutes, inventions, war machines and more. He was particularly interested in the way things worked. In class yesterday, 6th graders created sketches of 'gadgets' in the style of DaVinci. They carefully observed how the items (a pasta maker, cheese mill, hand mixer and clay press) operate, drew them and took notes (backwards or course) about how they work: Today, we read more about some of Leonardo's most famous paintings- the Last Supper and the Mona Lisa. Did you know that Da Vinci carried the Mona Lisa with him until his death, working on it the whole time? Did you know that a single whispy brush stroke makes up her eyebrow (or lack thereof)? Did you know that the painting was stolen from the Louvre in 1911 and was missing for two years until the thief tried to sell it in Italy? After reading all about it, students stepped into the role of Mona herself, using my Halloween costume from last year! Check out these "enigmatic smiles"...