A starfish walking!

Image credit

Passive voice

Here is a game to practice the passive voice.

 Next week we will have a test on Unit 9:

--ought to, want to, need to

--past simple passive

--forming questions 

--listening

--reading comprehension

Baroque Art and Architecture

The Baroque period spread from Italy to Spain in the 17th century. 

In architecture, artists used strong curves and richly detailed adornments. 

Churrigueresque architecture:

This is an architectural style used in Spain in the late 17th century to the middle of the 18th century. It was made popular by a Spanish architect called José Benito de Chuirriguera. It involves elaborately decorated facades of buildings.

Here are some examples.

The Obradoiro facade of the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela:


Royal Hospice of Madrid:



And in Mexico, the Cathedral of Zacatecas:

Image credit:   By Jvitela - Own work, GFDL,


Sculptors and painters transmitted a sense of movement and strong sense of contrast between light and dark.


Sculptors like Alonso Cano and Gregorio Fernández used polychrome (many coloured) wood.


Saint John of God, Alonso Cano


Concepció Immaculada, Alonso Cano



Pieta, Gregorio Fernández


Santa Teresa, Gregorio Fernández


Baroque painters in Spain:


Baroque Painting Spain from Gema - IES Villa de Vallecas

Renaissance Art and Architecture

The Renaissance developed in Italy, then spread throughout Europe. During this period, artists revisited ancient Greek and Roman works.

Renaissance architecture emphasised straight lines and simplicity. 

Do you recognize this building?



It has a mix of three architectural styles of the era: Plateresque, Hererrian, and Purist.  It was built in the 16th century.

The most famous example of the Plateresque style is the facade of the University of Salamanca. We can see many decorative elements, such as crests, columns, medallions, human and animal figures...



Here is an example of the Herrerian style: El Escorial, comissioned by Phillip II. The facades are simple and sober.





Here is a presentation about Renaissance architecture in Spain, and also El Greco.



Spanish Renaissance and El Greco from neni


In sculpture, polychrome (many-coloured) wooden sculptures depicted religious themes. Here is some work by Alonso de Berruguete.


Adoración de los Magos, Alonso de Berruguete


Ecce Homo, Alonso de Berruguete


And El Greco was a famous Spanish Renaissance painter.


El caballero de la mano en pecho, El Greco




Christ driving the moneychangers from the temple, El Greco

Happy St. George Day!

To celebrate, here is a story for you!

Yeast!

A very complete presentation about the Spanish Monarchy. You don't have to know all of this information!

Review 1 from jalopezluque

Fungi Kingdom

In the Fungi kingdom we have moulds:




Mushrooms:



Some fungi are unicellular, like yeast. (We use this to make bread!)

The Protista Kingdom

 There is a wide variety of different organisms in the Protista Kingdom.

They can move in different ways. The amoeba uses pseudopods (pseudo= false, pod= foot):






The paramecium uses cillia: 






 


Algae also belong to this kingdom.




Some Protists, like amoeba, reproduce by cell division.



 Others reproduce by spores.

Monera Kingdom

Bacteria are part of the Monera Kingdom.  They are unicellular, and can have different shapes.

Some of them have  tail-like flagella that help them move around.




They reproduce by dividing.



Some are autotrophs (they make their own food) and some are heterotrophs: they produce a substance that can break down plant or animal matter  to absorb the nutrients. 

Some bacteria can help us, and some can harm us. Bacteria can live in very cold temperatures and also very hot ones.

Shakespeare

Here is a link to the video we watched about Shakespeare.

Here is a page with information about Shakespeare's life, and some games.

Here is the video about Romeo and Juliet.

And here is Hamlet.

The Globe Theatre

Here is a video about the Globe Theatre:



And here is a version of it built in Minecraft!

Our field trip was a success!

We had a great time on our field trip Friday. 

First we went to the Museo  Arqueológico Nacional. We got to see many artifacts related to the Visigoths, Al-Andalus, the Christian Kingdoms, and the Early Modern period.   For example:









Image credit



We did not have time to see the other wonderful exhibits in the museum, but there is good news!  You can visit the museum for free on Saturday afternoons (starting at 2pm) and Sunday mornings!  Here is the web page of the Museum so you can plan your visit.  Don't miss the exhibits on Prehistoric Era, Roman Times, and the Egyptians!

After the museum, we had a lovely walk in Retiro Park.  

We saw birds:

Reptiles:

and some invertebrates-- an earthworm!  

Do you remember which type of invertebrate it is?  It's an annelid-- long, soft body divided into rings (segments).  

We also saw many plants--   seed-producing plants such as conifers (which are gymnosperms) and also flowering plants (angiosperms).  

Did you see any non-seed plants (like mosses or ferns)?

All in all, it was a wonderful day!

Early Modern Period review questions

Here are some questions to help you review for your test on Thursday.

When did the Early Modern period begin and end? (Year and important event for each.)

Six milestones of the Early Modern period.

Who were the Catholic Monarchs? What were they the sovereigns of?  What were their main aims? How did they achieve these aims?  How did they strengthen their power?

When did Christopher Columbus reach America? What three factors led to his discovery? What agreement did he sign? What were the names of his ships? What kind of ships were they? Where did he land on his first voyage? What else did he discover on the first voyage? What did he call the new lands?

What were the people who conquered the new lands called?

Who were the two conquistadors from the first stage of Spanish colonization of America? What did they conquer?  What was conquered in the second stage?  

What was the name of the governing body of Spain’s colonies in the Americas?

What was the Casa de Contratación for?

What were the two main colonies in America called?

What were the effects of Spanish colonisation? (good and bad)

Who was king after Ferdinand II and Isabella I?  Why was he unpopular in Spain?

What were the three main problems faced by Charles V?

Who was Martin Luther? What were his followers called? What did the Peace of Augsburg?

Who became king after Carlos V?

What was the Alpujarras Revolt? What other revolt did he face?  What four threats did Phillip II face abroad (outside of Spain)?

What do you know about Invertebrate animals?

Watch this video:

Incan Textiles

Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca of Peru in 1533.   Let's learn a bit about their culture.

The Incas of Peru made many beautiful  textiles. They often used abstract geometric designs, but each colour had a special meaning. The colours were from natural dyes extracted from plants, minerals, insects, and molluscs.  Read more here.




They used looms for weaving, and the yarn was made from wool from sheep, llama, alpacas, or vicuñas. Even today some people continue to use traditional methods to weave textiles in Peru.



We are going to try some weaving ourselves!  For Friday the 22nd of April, you need to bring some cardboard and some yarn to class.

Characteristics of Vertebrate Animals

We can classify vertebrate animals into five groups. Here are their characteristics.



 Characteristics of mammals  game.












Here is a great game about different types of vertebrate animals and their characteristics.

Vertebrates body coverings.

Body coverings game.

How vertebrates breathe

Vertebrate reproduction

Tiny frog!

Remember the tiny frog that we saw in our book? The dime (American 10-cent coin) is a little bit bigger than the euro 1-cent coin.




We can see its bones through the skin in this picture:



Here is an x-ray:




It was found in the rainforests of Papua New Guinea, in the Pacific Ocean (near Australia).

Spanish colonisation of the Americas

In the first stage of Spanish colonisation of America, there were two important conquistadors.

Hernán Cortes conquered the Aztecs in Mexico:






And Francisco Pizarro conquered the Incas in Peru.
 


Here is a map of the two Viceroyalties:



Trade between Europe and the Americas:




New crops were introduced to Europe:




But the Spanish also brought diseases, and forced the indigeneous people into slavery in order to exploit resources such as gold and silver.