Fourth Graders Explore the Middle Ages

As the students rotated through the four fourth-grade classrooms at Matthew Paterson Elementary School, they made coats of arms, stained glass, illuminated letters and castles – some with modern-day twists.

In Michael Dwyer’s classroom, the students used K’NEX building toys to create castles that would do any royal family proud.  One group of builders even put their castle on wheels.

“Castles don’t use wheels,” nine-year-old Chace said to his teammates. “That’s castle-ing 101.”  

Pretty soon, though, Chace went along with his group’s idea and started adding wheels. When the group rolled its castle up and down the aisles, their classmates all laughed.

Middle Ages Day was the culminating activity of the reading unit that fourth graders had just completed in the district’s Core Knowledge Language Arts, or CKLA, reading program.  The unit had them reading, writing and learning the vocabulary of medieval times.

“They learned all about the Middle Ages, so everything they are creating now is building on their prior knowledge,” Teacher Anastasia Amelio said. “It’s more than just ‘Oh, this is cool.’ These are activities that tie it all together.”

As ancient music played in the background, Teacher Jacqueline Zulauf showed her students how to make a coat of arms.

“We want to keep it to the design and the colors they would have used in medieval times,” she said.

“These symbols are from the Middle Ages,” Seamus said. “I’m going to make the diamond.”

Over in Teacher Katherine Allen’s room, students were drawing illuminated letters and illustrating them with symbols of the time.

“It would be scary to live in Medieval times because you wouldn’t have much to protect you from animals or from getting hurt,” said Valentina. “I’m glad I live now.”

Scary or not, the Middle Ages unit seemed to spark a lot of critical thinking and creativity.

“The kids really liked this unit,” Allen said. “We had fun celebrating everything we learned.”