Your students will enjoy this unit! Students like reading about Medieval heroes, and they also like the "gross" aspect of the Middle Ages!

If you have a wide range of learning abilities in you class - the outlines on King Arthur and the Crusades are two of the more difficult research projects. The outline on castles is one of the easier ones.

All the information needed for the outlines can be found on the Internet links alone, but we require students to use library resources in their research as well.

We begin with the reading selections and then start our research about half way through the unit. That way students have more of an idea of what area they would like to explore.

Patterns for clothing are online. Many pieces are very easy to make. One of our students cut the neck and armholes out of a burlap bag, tied it with rope, and he looked great! Some of the girls sewed elaborate dresses. Tabards are easy for the boys to make. The girls really enjoyed making hair pieces from dried flowers and ribbon.

There is a listing of specific projects with each research topic. However, if a student has his heart set on a project that is not listed or thinks up an original one he is encourage to do it. After all, interest is half the battle.

Throughout the whole Medieval unit, students are encouraged to play chess. The whole class gets involved and towards the end of the unit a chess tournament is held. One person from the eighth grade is declared champion.

On Medieval Fun Day, we took the whole eighth grade class out on the football field for two hours in the afternoon. We had the games set up in stations. Archery (Our great eighth grade coaches helped out here.), ball toss (We purchased the games from our local department store.), bacce ball (using crochet balls), sheep toss (One of our teachers graciously sewed a sheep and stuffed it. The kids stand with their backs to the goal post and throw the sheep over their head, backwards, over the goal post.), lance toss or caber toss (We used the long foam sticks the kids use in the summer to float on in the water.), Food station (We served juice and shortbread cookies with strawberry jam and pretzels.)

At Parents' Night the students bring in their projects and dress in the Medieval clothing they have made. They are also required to bring a Medieval food to share. Students are required to attend, and they're projects are graded at this time.