Junior High 3 Projects
- Renaissance
- Age of Discovery
- Revolutionary Times
- Industrialisation and Imperialism / Industry in Austria
- Beginnings of the 1st World War
Renaissance
The year starts off with a focus on Renaissance poetry by comparing two of Shakespeare’s sonnets and having a go at writing our own sonnets. In Art, we consider important artists of that time, such as Da Vinci and we study Renaissance architecture. In History and Geography, we use our critical thinking skills to analyse the background of the Renaissance and great religious changes in Europe.
Age of Discovery
In this unit, we learn a lot about the geography of the world, and the achievements made by explorers between the 15th and 17th century. We create amazing poster presentations on the Spanish Conquistadors, the French in the New World, the English in America and what happened when the Dutch and others joined the race! In English, we read an adventure novel and complete a convincing book report and creative writing assignments using the knowledge we gained about this theme.
Revolutionary Times
We take a roller-coaster through historical and modern revolutions in this unit! We start with the countries that came to dominate Europe after the Age of Discovery, and study the kinds of monarchs who ruled. We analyse lots of primary and secondary sources, and debate about the American and French revolutions. We create impressive front page newspapers in Art and learn about Baroque artists and architecture in class and on field trips. In English, we read Les Misérables, written by Victor Hugo. This gripping novel begins in 1815, the year Napoleon and his empire were defeated. Hugo writes about the terrible social problems and misery during this time in Paris when its population doubled too quickly.
Industrialisation and Imperialism / Industry in Austria
Our next unit focuses on two industrial revolutions that occurred in Britain and had a huge impact on the rest of the world. We look at changes in society through the 1700s, 1800s and 1900s, and consider the living and working conditions for the people during that time. In English, we read a multi-genre mystery novel depicting an unlucky teenager banished to labour, while his father is busy trying out his next invention. We experiment with persuasive devices used in industry and learn about the inventions and progress made during industrialisation. The changes from the domestic system to factory work lead to our geography work on industry, with a focus on industry in Austria.
Beginnings of the 1st World War
We dive into this cross-curricular unit that stretched across several subjects, including History, English and Geography. We create a web of causes for the First World War and explore what life must have been like in the trenches. We read a novel in English called War Horse, written from the perspective of a brave horse sent to the front line of the war. We analyse World War One from various perspectives, utilizing both fiction and non-fiction, as well as primary and secondary, sources. After all our classwork and a related field trip, it’s clear why we still remember such a huge event in history over 100 years later. This topic will picked up again at the beginning of the year in Junior High 4.