Sky & Trees Class Blog: Our Medieval Project Work is Moving Along!

We are in the midst of an inquiry process in the Sky and Trees Classes with a focus on Medieval Studies. We have been looking at and talking a great deal about castles, their inhabitants, and other details as part of this study.

A first step in the process of a study involves noticing, thinking about what you know, and gathering information. The children first recorded observations of castles in books, noticing architectural and design details, people in the castles, weapons, and more.

Looking for information

Studying the parts of a castle

After they spent some time looking, thinking and talking about castles, some children naturally began to ask questions. Thinking about our thinking (metacognition) is something that we are able to do easily as adults, but young children may not even realize that they are doing the work of thinking. We are working on helping children to become more aware of their own thought process and of the different ways that their brains might be working as they think.

For young children, one thing that can be difficult is to distinguish between questions and comments. So, as a group we discussed “How do you know when you have a question?” One thing that we discovered is that when you want to know more about something, you probably have a question. You may say, “I wonder…” or use words like, “Why,” “what” or “how” when asking a question.

Children have been looking for questions they may have about castles:

“Is this a jail or a gate?”

“Why are the people standing there with weapons?”

“Why is that person in jail?”

“What is a drawbridge?”

“Why are castles so big?”

Looking at photos to research knights and their swords.

We looked at some of the questions that the children have asked and showed them how we might go about answering some of those questions. This is again part of the inquiry process. The children already had some ideas about using a computer or a phone to get answers. Some children (and teachers) also have prior knowledge about some things and have shared information. Together, we also found that we were able to use some of the books about castles and medieval times that we have in the classroom to find answers. We are finding that we are returning to our books over and over as resources throughout our study.

Researching questions to build with blocks

Both fiction and nonfiction books help us to gain information. Even in works of fiction, there is information and vocabulary that is also enriching our study. We have heard words like “moat,” “lord,” and “jester” and have wondered about the dungeon. During our read alouds, many rich discussions often take place, and children ask more questions.

Looking in a book for castle details.

Currently, in each classroom during activity time, there is a great deal of exploration going on.

In blocks, children have begun to build a castle, thinking about different elements they might include, as well as thinking about the actual construction.

In the studio, children are working with clay and they spontaneously began building castle walls and towers. As they are thinking about the parts of a castle, they are simultaneously pondering what materials might be used to construct a castle.

In drama, children are very interested in weapons and have been researching the size of swords. They did some strong math work when they measured sword size, as well as one another, to help understand the scale of large swords.