Guide Entry to 25.02.07
In this interdisciplinary unit, “Voices from the Renaissance: Letters Through Time,” fifth-grade students explore the lives and legacies of influential Renaissance figures through the art of letter writing. By embodying the voices of Leonardo Da Vinci, Queen Elizabeth I, Catherine De’ Medici, and Artemisia Gentileschi, students craft historically grounded letters that reflect the tone, values, and perspectives of the era. The unit integrates rhetorical strategies – such as ethos, pathos, logos, anaphora, apostrophe, and chiasmus – while reinforcing foundational writing skills, including planning, drafting, revising, and proofreading.
Students are encouraged to view writing not only as a form of communication, but as a tool for inquiry perspective-taking, and creativity. As one scholar reflects, “The ability to write, hence to preserve and share arbitrary words and thoughts, was one of the most important breakthroughs in the history of mankind. It laid the technological basis for what we perceive today as culture, science and, in good part, economy.”
Through close reading of mentor texts and primary source excerpts, students engage in metacognitive reflection on how structure, voice, and language shape meaning. The unit blends history, literacy, and empathy to help students understand both the European Renaissance world and the power of their own words.
(Developed for English Language Arts, grade 5; recommended for English Language Arts, Social Studies, Arts, and Writing, grades 5-6)
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