2 content area websites with description

Leonardo da Vinci and Renaissance
1.http://gardenofpraise.com/art17.htm
2.http://www.kidspast.com/world-history/0288-the-renaissance.php
3.http://www.history.com/topics/renaissance-art

Website#1 is good website that children can learn about Leonardo da Vinci. Students who don't know anything about him can feel comfortable with it because it tells about his entire life from when he was a child to adult as a great artist, also as a scientist. Since it is a lot of reading, students can easily get tired or lose interest. Rather than a hard explanation, the writing style here is easy to read and made simple with large bold font. As the story changes and time changes, they are seperated into small paragraphs so children can have a small break after understanding one. Between the paragraphs, it includes pictures of certain paintings and sketches of da Vinci that were mentioned in the writing. While developing the knowledge of him as an artist, students can be confused when facing the description of him also as a scientist in a sudden. Between art and science, they can be confused or worried with unexpected word of science.
"Leonardo kept books of sketches he made. He studied human anatomy and drew sketches of the body. He had ideas for inventions that would not be developed for hundreds of years. He had an idea for a flying machine, a propeller, and for weapons of war. He designed and built bridges, canals and locks to carry water and move ships." Kindly, it makes nice transition from tellling his talent in drawing great sketches of human body to detailed outstanding sketches in science and design of machine. There are pictures of both human body sketches and science design that are helpful for better understanding. They can click on the image. In the bottom of the page, they some recommended books about renaissance and da Vinci as reference.
Website #2 is also a good place to learn about renaissance in Italy. It gives the thoughts and trends of the people in the time period, how they were changed through renaissance period and what renaissance did to people. In the beginning, it gives background knowledge about Rome and florence where developed renaissance. By clicking next pages, children can learn more about renaissance and famous artist with some helpful pictures on each page. I also added Website#3 link because it has some reference for video clips about renaissance and Leonardo da Vinci. Watching some of these short video clips can be useful break for children between readings.