OVERVIEW 

Welcome to the Middle Ages.  We will be reading historical fiction books set during the Middle Ages.  In order to better understand the characters and their actions, we need to understand the Medieval culture.  You will use library resources and the links below to help you in the research portion of our project.  After the research is finished, you can pick one of the literature circle books that interests you.  Read carefully, so you understand how the character changes.  When you are finished reading, you will pretend you are a person who lived during the Middle Ages and write journal entries.  Go forth, young squires, and begin your quest.... 

CLOTHING

• Clothes in the Middle Ages (Annenberg Learner.org)
• Clothing: (History on the Net)
• Clothing: (Medieval Life.net)

FOOD

• Food in the Middle Ages
• Medieval Food--History for Kids
• Medieval Life-Food

HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS

• Medieval Holidays
• Festivals
• Guide to Medieval Instruments
• Music (Medieval-Life.net)
• Medieval Music (midi files)
• Games

ILLUMINATIONS

• Cambridge Gallery
• Charles Edwin Puckett Gallery
• Fitzwilliam Museum (interactive animation of scribing)
• Griffins Medieval Manuscripts
• Illuminated Alphabet
• Illuminated Middle Ages
• Skins with preprinted borders (1, 2, or 3)

INTERACTIVE MEDIEVAL WEB SITES

• Fitzwilliam Museum (interactive animation of scribing)
• Choose a Medieval Guide
• Women in the Middle Ages
• Build Your Own Castle
• Medieval Timeline
• Interactive Journey Through the Middle Ages (Learner.org)

LITERATURE

• The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyre
• Stories of Beowulf Told to Children (The Baldwin Project)
• Beowulf: An Old Anglo-Saxon Version (out-of-print online picture book)
• Legends of King Arthur (Baldwin Online Children Literature)
• Bullfinch's Mythology: The Age of Chivalry

MEDIEVAL DICTIONARIES

• Castle Terms
• Medieval Cooking Terms
• Medieval Glossary (hyper-linked text)
• Medieval Clothing / Fashion
• Ye Olde English Sayings

MEDICINE & DISEASES

• Health in the Middle Ages (learner.org)
• Black Death (Mr. Dowling)
• Map of the Black Death or Bubonic Plague in Europe (Mr. Dowling)
• Medieval Health (doctors, medicine, diseases, black death) (Medieval-Live.net)

MIDDLE AGES (COMPREHENSIVE SITES)

• Medieval Times created by Mr. Donn.
• Middle Ages (Learner.org)
• Middle Ages Site Map
• The Middle Ages (History for Kids)
• The Middle Ages: Between Ancient & Modern (Mr. Dowling)
• Medieval Life (Medieval-Life.net)

NAMES

Use the these resources to select Medieval names for your characters in your creative writing journals.  Writers are very particular about the names of their characters.  Names convey meaning and personality.  Select a name that best fits your character's personality.

Surnames

• History Learning Site (describes how surnames were acquired by occupation, location, etc.)
• Last Name Meanings
• Etymology & History of Surnames

 

First Names

• Men & Women Names
• First Names (Think Baby Names)
• Etymology of First Names
• Calendar of Saints by Feast Days:  Catherine identifies the dates in her journal entries corresponding Saint days.  This is a part of Medieval culture.  This site will allow you to label the saint days in your writing project or look up saints that Catherine mentions in her journals.

 

PEOPLE

• Jewish People in Exile
• Callihoo Writing Group: a comprehensive list of occupations or jobs for people in the Middle Ages
• Church / Monks (Mr. Dowling's Christendom)
• Crusaders (4 Crusades)
• Feudal Life (Learner.org)
• Feudalism (Mr. Dowling)
• Feudalism (Mr. Donn)
• Knights (Medieval-Life.net)
• Knights (stages) (Mr. Donn)
• Medieval  Occupations (jobs)
• Occupations  (Mr. Dowling: Primogeniture--inheritance, dowry,  journeyman, knighthood)
• Townspeople
• Troubadours
• Village Life

STUDENT HANDOUTS

• Chapter Summary (Making Reading Connections)
• Checklist
• How to Make Skins
• 50 Spelling Unforgivables
• Line Template (single-spaced)
• Line Template (1.5 spacing)
• Map of England (1200-1450)
• Parent Project Letter
• Rough Draft: header and dating the journal entry (skip every other line)
• Rubric
• Vocabulary Bingo Words (September/November Vocabulary)
• KIDS kids Project: Writing a Book Review for Scholastic "Share What You're Reading" Project

TEACHER RESOURCES

Poster Projects: Building background knowledge before reading.  Students work in groups to focus on an aspect of medieval life: clothing, church, Black Death, feudalism, knights, food, townspeople.  Use the links above to locate information and pictures to enhance the poster.

• Group Rubric

Vocabulary: Students learn vocabulary words to play vocabulary BINGO.  The words came from the book.

• September / November Vocabulary
• Vocabulary Bingo
• Form for tracking class set of books
• Tracking your inner voices
• Contact the Author
• KIDS kids Project: Writing a Book Review for Scholastic "Share What You're Reading" Project

Journal Entries

• Parent Letter (smart room edition)
• Sample Journal Entry (Fall)
• Rubric (smart room edition)

Text-to-Text Connections

• "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
• 1812 Version Cinderella by Brothers Grimm

LACS Knights
A Wiki web site created by the LACS class of 2014. The website provides background information on Medieval culture.

SimplyBox
A social bookmarking tool that allows you to capture, share, and organize information from the Internet.

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