Leonardo Da Vinci, What made him a Renaissance man?

Leonardo followed a longstanding painting tradition in his family, starting at the age of 15 when his father aprenticed him to the workshop of Andrea del Verrochio. Even as an apprentice, Leonardo was showcasing his true, natural talent in art. One of Leonardo's first big moments and breakaways was to paint an angel in Verrochio's "Baptism of Christ," and Leonardo was so much better than his master's that Verrochio said he would never paint again. Leonardo stayed in Verrochio's workshop until 1477, that was when he set up a shingle for himself.

Leonardo reached his scientific achievements with the Duke of Milan in 1482. The Duke kept Leonardo very busy, aside from his painting, the Duke encouraged Leonardo to work designing weapons, buildings and machinery. Leonardo expanded his studies even more, including nature, flying machines, geometry, mechanics, municipal construction, canals and architecture (designing everything from churches to fortresses). From 1513 to 1516, he worked in Rome, maintaining a workshop and undertaking a variety of projects for the Pope

Leonardo Da Vinci, the genius behind all those amazing paintings, also had a great mind for science and architectural design. Leonardo was just a gifted boy all the way from the start, his breakout paintings and his clever use of anatomical accuracy and his architectural knowledge to go along with his eagerness to learn more impressed great patrons like the Medici's as well as the Pope at that time, who made Leonardo a huge name in the renaissance.

Brunelleschi- The Mastermind.

During the construction of the dome of the Florentine Cathedral, Brunelleschi was a risk taker. He took many risks before the construction of the dome, first he went to Rome to immerse himself, while he was gone, somebody could have taken the job. Brunelleschi advised the consuls and the magistrates of Florence to convoke all the master builders from different places, then he left for Rome again. 10 years later he found that there was nobody that could complete the job of the biggest construction of the time. So he secretly started planning a design, knowing that there was nobody left to do the job. 3 years later, Brunnelleschi got the permission to be held in charge of the construction of the dome. All due to his risk-taking and trusting his gut no matter what he does.

Where do new ideas come from?

I believe new ideas can come from anywhere and anybody. Everybody is a different person in our world, and definetly there is more than 1 solution to a problem! Anybody can come up with the brightest ideas, whether they are scientists or just average people living an ordinary life. New ideas can come from the smallest town, or the most populated city! Because in our world, everyone is unique and different, and everyone is capable of thinking outside the box!!

What makes a great story?

I think that all great stories need an introduction, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution. Without these, you will have stories going from HIGH to LOW very fast, instead of building that tension or breaking down all that exitement and coming to a resolution. But, I think they all need some humor in it, or a lot of action and tension. That's the type of story that I like, fast paced, adventurous. It's critical for these types of stories to have intro, rising action, climax, falling actiona and resolution, or else the story will jump from scene to scene without us knowing what exactly happened.

Response to Rose Blanche

Response to Rose Blanche

The boy in Striped Pyjamas was set in the past? Why should you care about the issues raised in the book? Should we continue to study this book?

I think that the issues and concepts raised in this book are very important despite the fact that it was set in the past. I think that learning about the past will help us have a brighter future and become better people, because the mistakes that people will often make in the past are oppurtunities to learn and correct mistakes for the future.The people of Germany were brainwashed through the use of propoganda and big speech's given by Hitler to push German's into believing that the Jews were the cause of the war and they were responsible for their embarrasing losses in the war, even though the Jews were totally innocent.This is a good example of how people can learn from the mistakes that have happened in their past and avoid them for the future. Because now not only Germans, but many people worldwide believe that discrimination and racism is NOT the right thing to do. This is a good topic to study in Grade 7, because it makes us think how terrifying it would have been if you were Jewish at that time. What the Nazi's did to the poor innocent people was cruel and heartless, it is no way to treat a innocent human being. This teaches us to be respectful of our others no matter what color, religion or nationality they are.