Carmel Fourth-Graders Revisit the Middle Ages
- hollytoal
- 2 days ago
- 1 min read
Learning about the Middle Ages is part of the fourth grade curriculum at Carmel Central School District. To bring that curriculum to life, students at Matthew Paterson Elementary School recently showed one another what they learned about the medieval period.
The students had to pick a topic – castles and knights, lord of the manor or serf, medieval village, etc. – and decide how to present it to the class. They could make a diorama, a poster, or a PowerPoint presentation before they took turns visiting each other’s classrooms and seeing what their schoolmates created.
Johniel’s diorama showed what life was like during the plague.
“I learned that hundreds of people died because doctors then didn’t have the tools they do now,” he said. “Their streets were really dirty. There was sewage everywhere. They used to hold flowers in their mouths to keep from smelling the bad smell.”
Daniel said it took him half the weekend to make his diorama.
“I had help,” he said. “My mom made the moat. My uncle showed me how to use the 3D printer to make the castle.”
Emily said she thought it would be fun to live in a big castle. “I think I would have liked to live in the Middle Ages,” she said. “They didn’t have to go to school.”
In some ways, not much has changed since the Middle Ages. Then – as now – several students agreed that it would have been better to be the lord of the manor than a serf.