Our fourth graders have been diving into the fascinating world of the Middle Ages during their CKLA unit. They’ve explored what life was like for people who lived long ago, learning about the roles of serfs, knights, lords, craftsmen, monks, and nuns. Students discovered how each group contributed to medieval society and what daily life might have been like inside a castle or a village. They even wrote detailed paragraphs imagining which role they would choose if they lived during that time and explained why. Along the way, they also studied castles, moats, armor, jousting, archery, and many other exciting parts of the Middle Ages.
To wrap up our unit, we celebrated with a Medieval Festival! Students dressed the part and stepped into the shoes of the people they had learned about—becoming knights, archers, craftsmen, and monks or nuns. They rotated through different hands-on stations to experience history come alive. They tried their hand at jousting (with pool noodles, of course!), practiced archery skills, created their own “stained glass” rose windows, and carefully copied text with a quill pen—just like monks in a scriptorium. It was a fun and memorable way to bring history to life, and our young historians had a fantastic time exploring the Middle Ages together.
