Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Colosseum & types of columns


(Alex made this cute dog with a bow in her hair while we were working with Model Magic. Alex was in charge of the photography today.)
In Mystery of History this week, we read about Nero who persecuted the Christians. One of our activities was to learn more about the Colosseum. We were excited to do this as my brother and mom are going to Italy for 2 WEEKS next month! I can't wait to "share" their trip via photos. I'll be sure to get some to post for everyone.

Anyway, did you know that the Colosseum was financed by melting down a golden statue of Nero called the Colossus? Pretty interesting, isn't it?

 
Anyway, we found some great sites about the Colosseum:
  • We read about the Colossus statue financing the building of the Colosseum at Kidipede.
  • We were able to take a quick tour of the Colosseum at Discovery Channel.
  • And, at Google Earth, you can now view some Roman structures, including the Colosseum, in 3D! You go under "Gallery" and then click on "Ancient Rome 3D." Very neat!
  • We didn't try it, but you can also make your own paper model of the Colosseum (for free!) from this Canon site.
So, at the Discovery Channel site, we learned that there are 3 layers at the colosseum and they each have a different type of column - doric, ionic & cornthian. Between each column is an arch. I decided to review arches since we haven't talked about them in several years. So, we learned about them at these sites:
  • This site teaches you the parts of a column. We learned learned the terms capital, shaft, and base.
  • And, using the examples we found here, we made our own columns out of Model Magic.
(Above, you'll see my 3 examples of columns - I used the lids of highlighters for added stability.)

6 comments:

Dana said...

Your columns are great! I think we'll be learning about them pretty soon as well, so I'll have to remember to try this with the boys.

live4evermom said...

Nice job on those columns.

Ms Eva said...

Awesome! We are in the midst of Ancient Rome right now so this is perfect! I even have Model Magic on hand! We have to do this! Thank you so much for posting.

On a side note, I have to share - A few years ago when I started blogging & homeschooling, an acquaintance of mine - a former friend - had been negatively talking about me saying something to the likes of, "I don't know why she has to blog about what she does with her kids. I do all those things but I don't feel the need to share it with the world to get praise."

It bothered me for a long time - but everytime I see a post on another mom's blog that inspires me like you have today - I remember why I started blogging in the first place. We're building a community. We share and inspire one another. I want to be a part of that.

Thank you so much, Dana!

Rhonda said...

These are very nice. Great job. Thank for all of the info and the links.

sarah in the woods said...

Thanks for sharing this. We're learning about Rome too.

Robin said...

I agree with Makita wholeheartedly! And I've actually had some similar comments.

Back to the post:
I love your work on the columns. Last year, one of the mom's in our group set up a field trip into our State Capital area. Their focus was on Roman architecture. I didn't get to go on that trip, but the kids that did go are so funny. Everywhere we go as a group, they will point out columns and arches that reflect a Roman influence. And they can all name the type of structure. It is quite surprising how much modern day architecture mimics the past.

Related Posts with Thumbnails