Oct. 17, 2022-- Teachers at Pine Beach Elementary School are having a fun time allowing students to help bring history lessons to life.

For her fourth-grade students studying the Middle Ages, Madison Jacobus introduced a few “new” students to the class: Sir Thinksalot, the Noble Knight, and Elliott the Brave, his loyal dragon (top right). The class also practiced using quills as they began a new reading unit, and were able to experience the feel of what it meant to write hundreds of years ago.

Meanwhile, Danielle Conte’s class completed a project on Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci after learning about Italian Renaissance artists and explorers such as Christopher Columbus last week. Students opted to draw the Mona Lisa their own way, or draw like Michelangelo—upside down (bottom right)!

A welcome reminder that learning about the past can be really fun in the present when you have a great teacher. Additional photos below.