Middle Schoolers Live Life in the Middle Ages

The whole sixth grade jumped knee deep into technology and research as they prepared for the first annual Medieval Week Extravaganza!, beginning on December 16.
 
After reading Arthurian Legend, students delved into the Middle Ages by familiarizing themselves with research protocol, gathering information and then choosing a project to work on, with each project designed to make the most of individual learning styles.

Some students gravitated toward performing a Readers’ Theater script from the 2008 Newbery Award winning book, Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! by Laura Amy Schlitz. This series of conversations, involving 23 characters, features young people living in and around an English manor in 1255. The script offers insight into medieval life through each character’s personality and role, and the revelation of individual memories, intentions, and attitudes, including narratives on falconry, the Crusades, and Jewish culture in medieval society.

Other students chose to recreate various Arthurian legends as a movie. Working in groups, sixth graders researched legends, wrote a brief synopsis, created a storyboard and a script, and then filmed their stories, resulting in four student-produced films: “Excalibur”, “Lancelot and Guinevere”, “The Scheming Sorceress”, and a version of “The Last Battle.”

Students also explored medieval entertainment such as morality and miracle plays, medieval songs and instruments, magic, storytelling, jousts and tournaments. They then created their own performances, including puppet shows, magic acts and musical numbers played on medieval instruments. It was a show that would have kept any Lord or Lady well entertained!

Fascinated by the story, “Christmas in King Arthur’s Court”, some students chose to research celebrations and traditions of the Middle Ages and shared what they had learned with fellow students using posters, Powerpoint slideshows, cookbooks, flipbooks and essays.

On December 16, sixth graders and teachers came to school dressed in medieval garb – cotton, linen and wool tunics, skirts, blouses, aprons and even rags and cast offs, and some teachers came dressed as nobility and knights.
A field trip to Monmouth University to see the Running Rabbit Family Theatre group’s version of “The Sword in the Stone” rounded out the first Medieval Week Extravaganza! All in all is was a multidisciplinary project that was not only fun and engaging, but also allowed students to experience a little of what life must have been like during Middle Ages.

For additional information on all Ranney School news, please contact the Communications Department at communications@ranneyschool.org.