Focus: The resources for this unit (The Renaissance) are part of the individual resources titled From the Renaissance to England’s Golden Age. This unit (Unit 4 for schools using the CKHG series in Sequence grade-level order) introduces students to the Renaissance, which began in Italian city-states and then spread across much of Europe, impelled by Gutenberg’s printing press.
Students learn how artists were supported by patrons, such as the wealthy Medici family, or Pope Julius II for whom Raphael painted frescoes and Michelangelo the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Students are introduced to the lives and works of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, to Castiglione’s writings on courtly behavior, to Machiavelli’s ideas about politics, and to Shakespeare and Cervantes as exemplars of the Renaissance spirit in literature. Students also learn how the Renaissance spread to northern Europe.
Number of Lessons: 23
Lesson Time: 45 minutes each daily. Each lesson may be divided into shorter segments.
Additional Search Terms: social studies • geography • map skills • nonfiction • informational text • Erasmus • Botticelli • Brunelleschi • Dürer • El Greco • Elizabeth I
CKHG Grade Levels: CKHG units are correlated to topics at the grade levels specified in the Core Knowledge Sequence, which allows students in schools following the Sequence to build knowledge grade by grade. In other settings, individual CKHG units may be used as supplemental resources. In general, the content and presentation in the CKHG units for Grades 3-5 are appropriate for young readers from the upper elementary grades through middle school.
