Knights and Swords and Castles, Oh My!

It's hard to believe that there are only three days of school left!  We are finishing the year with a Medieval Times social studies unit to accompany our final novel of the year, The Castle in the Attic.  Here are some snapshots of our medieval experiences...

When we were learning about medieval weapons, the PE/Art teacher at our school brought in several replicas of swords for the kids to try out!

The students created their own armor and weapons out of cardboard and aluminum foil to carry with us on the school-wide hike to Sausenberg, the castle ruins behind our school!

They also developed imaginative short stories about the scenes depicted in their medieval coloring pages.

Together we built a castle out of household objects, complete with a drawbridge, moat, lord's chamber, dungeon, armory, kitchen, chapel, and stable!

Each student has been assigned a knight name based upon a famous knight from the Middle Ages.  The students complete a variety of tasks (reading at home, bringing in medieval costumes, demonstrating chivalry in the classroom, winning games of the "war" card game) to earn medallions.  They reach the squire level when they have earned 15 medallions, but they are all working towards becoming a knight (35 medallions)!  This Tuesday we will have a knighting ceremony for all of the students who have reached the knight level by that time.  More pictures to come!