This winter, Redeemer Logic School students (grades 6 - 8) and 5th graders participated in numerous activities to learn more about Greek/Roman mythology. The logic school Latin/Literature teacher, Annie Leach, and 5th grader teacher, Jane Fowler, provided multiple ways for them to stretch their creativity and expand their knowledge.
Mr./Ms. Olympus & the Virgil Award
Students in 6th grade researched one god/goddess to replace Zeus as supreme ruler of Olympus. On February 12, each student had only two minutes to convince the audience and judges that his or her character would be the best replacement for Zeus. (Some of the clever gods even brought bribes.) This year, Athena, AKA Effie Eads, secured the crown.
On the same day, 7th and 8th grade students competed for the Virgil Award, reciting memorized sections of book 3 of The Aeneid or sharing original work based on that section of Virgil’s epic. Eighth Graders James Fries, Alina Plonsky, and Aubrey Velker earned the laurels in this contest.
Mythology Olympics
On Wednesday, February 19, teams of students spread throughout the gym. They raced between stations, answering questions about mythology as quickly as possible in our annual Mythology Olympics (which also happens to be good preparation for the upcoming Exam). Mrs. Fowler, the 5th grade teacher, arranged this competition for students.
National Mythology Exam
Our 5th-8th graders took the National Mythology Exam on February 25. The Excellence Through Classics organization administers this exam to over 10,000 students yearly. All grades answered questions on the Olympians, Perseus and Monsters. Seventh and eighth grade students took an additional exam section based on The Aeneid.
Original works
In addition to the contest above, all the logic students wrote poems based on the Greek myths. Below are a few.
Perseus in the Box with His Mother
by Anna Richardson
Stuffed in a box by the king's hands
Splash! Thrown into the stormy seas!
Swirling through straits and vortices
Washed into Polydectes’ lands.
The Sphinx
by Nathan Dunaway
When blood dripped from the slain Medusa’s head
And onto scorching southern desert sands,
It stained the orange-yellow sand dunes red
And monsters spawned and left for other lands.
The Sphinx came from this great and monstrous brood
She’d challenge trav’llers to a risky game,
And though her tricks were by one man subdued,
She now does guard the sands from which she came.
The Sphinx
by Libby Kidd
Monster, lioness, eagle, woman,
Sent to Thebes to punish man
Hear my riddle, die trying
The one who decodes it
Shall send her, the Sphinx,
Over a cliff
Never to
Return
Home.
Winged
by Jessie Brumfield
Pegasus, the immortal winged horse,
Born from the blood of Medusa.
He bore Zeus’ thunderbolts,
Fathered the pegasi,
And was the mount of
Bellerophon.
Majestic,
Stunning,
Pure.