History and Social Studies:

7.2.6 Understand the intellectual exchanges among Muslim scholars of Eurasia and Africa and the contributions Muslim scholars made to later civilizations in the areas of science, geography, mathematics, philosophy, medicine, art, and literature.

7.8.5 Detail advances made in literature, the arts, science, mathematics, cartography, engineering, and the understanding of human anatomy and astronomy (e.g., by Dante Alighieri, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo di Buonarroti Simoni, Johann Gutenberg, William Shakespeare).

Literature and Language Arts:

7.1.0Students write clear, coherent, and focused essays.  The writing exhibits students’ awareness of the audience and purpose.  Essays contain formal introductions, supporting evidence, and conclusions.

7.2.4 Write persuasive compositions
State a clear position or perspective in support of a proposition or proposal.

Describe the points in support of the proposition, employing well-articulated evidence.

Anticipate and address reader concerns and counterarguments.

Introduction
Background for the Teacher
Guiding Questions
Learning Opportunities
Assessment
Guided Discussion Questions
Instructional Plan
Materials Needed
Groupings
Checking for Student Understanding
Guided Practice
Independent Practice
Closure
Extention
English Learners
G.A.T.E. Students

Mission Inn Museum website
Florence, Italy architecture
Andrea Palladio, Renaissance architect
Andrea Palladio, Wikipedia article
Renaissance architecture
Renaissance architecture
Architecture of the Renaissance
Mission Inn architecture
Mission Inn architecture

Introduction:

In Europe, from the 14th to the 16th Centuries there was a new cultural movement known as the Renaissance – “Rebirth” – in which Classical Greek and Roman thought and material culture were revived and developed.  An important center for the development of this Renaissance was Florence Italy, known for its magnificent art, architecture and Humanist ideas. 

This “rebirth” of the classical was most apparent in the architecture of the time, visible in many elements reflective of ancient buildings, particularly of Rome and Greece.  There was an emphasis on symmetry, mathematical proportions, geometrically-perfect designs, and orderly arrangements of columns, semicircular arches and hemispherical domes.  Balance and regularity replaced the haphazard proportions and irregular building facades preceding the new Renaissance style, referred to by those at the time as all’Antica, “in the Antique manner.”

Renaissance architects no longer used the shape of the cross as a foundation for their constructions; instead they used the circle.  They believed that ancient mathematicians associated circles with perfection and thus, architects used the circle to represent the perfection of God.

Most homes of the wealthy were built around a courtyard, a style adopted from the Romans.  Facades of buildings were applied in simple, symmetrical decorations and many also featured columns, all reminiscent of ancient temples.