Castle Diary:  The Journal of Tobias Burgess

Unit Prepared By:  Helena Gosline

Castle Diary Notebooking Pages

Social Studies:

Knight:  an armored nobleman who fought on horseback

·        How do you become a knight?

1)   Page – When a child born in a noble family turned 6 or 7 they were sent to live with another noble family to learn to become a Knight.  The belief was that your own family would be too easy on you.  Toby did not leave as early because his mother did not want to let him go.  A page serves the Lord’s family.  He learns manners and battle skills.  They also attend mass and have school most every day.

2)   Squire – When a page was about the age of 14 he became a squire.  A squire is an apprentice to a knight.  He became a knight’s personal assistant.  He would take care of the knight’s horse and weapons.  If the knight went to war the squire would go with him.  A squire had to be ready to fight so he would practice fighting.  He had to learn to fight while riding a horse and having his hands free to fight. 

3)   Knight – If a squire were to become a knight he would have a dubbing ceremony around the age of 21.  Not all squires became knights.  You had to be found worthy and you had to be able to afford the armor, weapons and your horse.  If a squire became a knight his title would be Sir.

·        Dubbing Ceremony:

During a dubbing ceremony the soon to be knight would kneel

down on one knee in front of the one dubbing you.  The knight

would take and oath to protect his lord, king, and his church.  He

would also promise to be brave and loyal.  Then he would be

tapped on the shoulder with the flat side of the sword and

proclaim, “I dub thee knight.  Arise, Sir ___________!”
 

·        Code of Chivalry

Chivalry – The medieval code of polite and honorable behavior

that knights were expected to follow.

Some Selections from

The Code Of Chivalry

1.      Live to serve King and Country.

2.      Live to defend Crown and Country and all it holds dear.

3.      Live one’s life so that is worthy of respect and honor.

4.      Live for freedom, justice and all that is good.

5.      Never attack an unarmed foe.

6.      Never use a weapon on an opponent not equal to the attack.

7.      Never attack from behind.

8.      Avoid lying to your fellow man.

9.      Avoid cheating.

10.    Avoid torture.

11.    Administer justice.

12.    Protect the innocent.

13.    Exhibit self-control.

14.    Show respect to authority.

16.    Respect women.

17.    Exhibit Courage in word and deed.

18.    Defend the weak and innocent.

19.    Destroy evil in all of its monstrous forms.

20.    Crush the monsters that steal our land and rob our people.

21.    Fight with honor.

22.    Avenge the wronged.

23.    Never abandon a friend, ally, or noble cause.

24.    Fight for the ideals of king, country, and chivalry.

25.    Die with valor.

26.    Always keep one’s word of honor.

Activity: Make a sword out of toilet paper rolls and have a dubbing ceremony.


Activity:  Knight Pyramid Project (directions are in the files) 
--contributed by Jimmie

Pyramid (with information and graphics) ready to assemble

Pyramid (blank for your student to write on/draw on) ready to assemble

·        Tournaments

Knights would have tournaments.  This was a way they could practice fighting and have fun.  One of the contests was the joust.  In a joust, two knights tried to knock each other off their horses with lances.  A lance was a very long pole with a sharp steel point on the end.  A knight while on his horse would hold the lance in one hand as he charged toward his enemy.  When he got close enough to the enemy he would try to stab him.  Sometimes he would even be able to knock the enemy of his horse.  The winner of the tournament could win the other knights horse and supplies.  Sometimes they even played for ladies. 

Video Suggestion:  A Knight's Tale: You will want to preview this.  There are parts that are not suitable for children.  The reason I suggest it is because of the jousting tournament.  Your child will get a good feel for what a tournament was like and the speeches that were given.  I just showed parts here and there of this video to my children.  One of the reason knights liked the tournament is because they get to keep what the won and horses and equipment were expensive.
 

 ·        Shields

Shields were used for protection but they were also used to identify who you were.  When knights went into battle they were completely covered.  Since they were covered no one could tell who you were.  In order to help with this they created a coat of arms on their shield to show who they were.  It would usually have a symbol or color that would represent who you were or who your family line was. For more information see the back of the book PG 109-110 “Friends or Foe”.

Create a shield with your own coat of arms on it.  Use cardboard and cut it into the shape of a shield.  Glue the front with white paper or paint it white.  Have children design their own coat of arms.  They might want to practice on a scrap paper first then draw on their shield with a pencil.  Once they get the design they want have them paint it or color it.  Have fun with this and have them make it personal.  For example what do they love?  Horses, basketball, flowers, etc…  My son drew a cross in the middle of his.  He said it was because we are Christians and Christ should be at the center of our lives.  Then at the top he drew geese flying because our last name is Gosline.  Goslines are baby geese.  Then at the bottom he drew water, which is somewhere he would live if he could.

·        Feudal System – a system of trading the use of land for loyalty and work during the middle ages.

In this system people were ranked by how important you were believed to be.  The people on top were believed to be the most important and they told others what to do.  The feudal system helped keep order during the Middle Ages but it was not fair.  During this time period most of the land belonged to the kings.  The land that was his was known as his kingdom.  The king needed help to defend his kingdom.  The king needed help to defend his kingdom.  The king would give a piece of his land to a baron as “payment” for his locality.  The baron would not own this portion of land but he would run it and rule over the people who worked there.  The baron could build a castle on this land for himself.  In addition to the loyalty the baron promised he also promised to provide knights to fight if his kingdom was attacked.  Knights gave their loyalty to the baron and the king.  In return he was also given his own manner to rule.  Most of the people that did the work in the kingdom were peasants.  Unlike a noble child a child born as a peasant got to say with his family but as an adult you had a much harder life.  You worked hard and gave most of your crops to the Lord therefore you were hungry most of the time.  During times of war peasants could seek protection inside the walls of the castle.  There were a few free men but they were not promised protection during war.  For additional information and ranking information see the back of you book PG 95-97 “High and Low”.

1) Think of your home is there a ranking order in you home? 

God

Dad

Mom

Children

2) What about in a job situation?  How about the military?

3) Our government today is not like the system during the middle ages.  You are not born into your position you are voted in.  We have a democracy.  The president is the closest thing we have to a king but he does not have as much power as a king.
 

 
        Castle

Castles were built as homes but they were also built to protect you.  The word castle comes from a Latin word which means fortress.  Castles had many different parts.  Some of which were:

1)     Wall – the wall is a tall structure that surrounds the castle.  Just as during biblical times the wall around Jerusalem was to keep certain people out and to protect the people the walls around the castle were to keep certain people out and to protect those living in the castle.

2)     Keep – the keep was usually the strongest part of the castle.  It was where the lord would live and where they would keep their weapons.

3)     Tower – was usually taller then the rest of the castle and its other structures.  It was where the watchmen would stay on guard.

4)     Moat – was a deep trench surrounding a castle.  It was usually filled with water and the only way to cross this was over the drawbridge or swim. 

 For more information on the castle see the back of the book pg 99-101 (The Castle).

Project: Build a Castle.  We did this using a shoebox, lid and pieces of boxes, toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, cardboard, greenery and paint.  After looking at different pictures of castles and talking about why castles were designed the way they were I laid at all our material and they designed their own castle.
 

·        Sieges

Castles were built for protection.  During this time period their was a lot of fighting which is why its also known as the dark ages.  They fought to gain power and land.  Some were also fighting for their church.  One way they would try to take over a castle was by a siege.  During the siege they would surround the castle.  They would not let any one/thing in or out.  They would shoot arrows and wait out the people on the inside.  Sieges could last months because they were hoping the people on the inside would give out of food and water.  From the inside they would shoot arrows and throw things at the ones on the outside.

Another way the ones on the outside would try to gain access to the inside is by knocking the walls down.  They would do this by using a catapult.  A catapult was like a giant slingshot.  It could throw big boulders at the castle wall, which eventually could knock it down.  It could also throw items over the walls such as boulders or even dead animals.  They would send the dead animals over in hopes that it would spread diseases.  (For more info see the back of your book)

Activity: Build a Catapult.  Let your children be creative.  My oldest used scrap wood we had around the house.  My son used a mousetrap and my youngest used craft sticks that she decorated.  We used dog food as our weapon and we had a contest to see which one shot the farthest.  The dogs were in heaven.

·      Geography

Toby’s castle was in Europe. 

Locate Europe on a map or glove.  Give them a outline of a map of Europe.  Have them label the following parts.  What is the major body of water to the West? (Atlantic Ocean)  What is the major body of water to the South? (Mediterranean Sea)  What is the major piece of land to the South? (Africa)  What is the major piece of land to the East? (Asia: Russia) 

Have your child look up Europe in the encyclopedia and/or book from the library.  Have them share with you what they learn or discover.  If your child does not know how to look something up in the encyclopedia or the card catalog this is a great time to introduce or review that.

Science: Watercycle

·        On June 15 Toby talks about how there has been no rain.  Discuss droughts and the need for rain/water.  We covered the water cycle. 

I took a sheet of drawing paper the size of 18” x 12” and I folded it into a portfolio type fold.   

1)     Inside left hand corner - we put their Bible verses that we

found that dealt with the water cycle.  This was their copy work.  I took a sheet of paper and folded in half long ways then folded in half again and again.  When I opened it up I had four lines that divided the paper into sections.  I cut on the top line to make four “doors” on the outside cover of the door they wrote the verse location. (Ecclesiastes 1:7, Ecclesiastes 11:3a, Psalm 147:8, and Isaiah 55:10-11)  On the inside of each section they wrote the verses. 

2)     Inside main section:  We had two items in this section. 

a.      First ~ We talked about the forms of water. (Gas, solid, liquid)  We saw this by boiling water for the gas.  We made a glass of ice water to drink referring to the ice as a solid and the water as the liquid form.  They made a book that shows each of these forms.

b.     Second ~ we made a book on the water cycle.  I took

another sheet of the drawing paper and folded into the portfolio fold again but then I folded this in half so this would fit in our main book and we could open it up to see our four sections. 

1.     Section 1 ~ on the outside they wrote   Evaporation.  On the inside of this section they drew a picture of a sun and defined Evaporation.  (Evaporation is when the sun heats up water and turns it into vapor or steam.  The water vapor or steam leaves the river, lake, or ocean and goes into the air.)

2.     Section 2 ~ On the second section they wrote

the word condensations on the outside.  On the inside they drew a picture of a sun covered by a cloud and defined condensation.  (Water vapor in the air gets cold and changes back into liquid forming clouds.)

  3. Section 3 ~ On the outside they wrote the word  

      Precipitation.  On the inside they drew a

      picture of a cloud with rain falling from it and

     defined precipitation. (Precipitation occurs

     when so much water has condensed that the air

     cannot hold it anymore.  The clouds get heavy

     and water falls back to the earth in the form of

     rain, hail or snow.

4.     Section 4 ~ On the outside they wrote the word collection.  On the inside the drew a picture of puddles and defined collection. (When water falls back to earth as precipitation, it may fall

back in the oceans, lakes or rivers or it may end up on land.  When it ends up on land, it will both soak into the earth and become part of the “ground water” that plants and animals use to drink or it may run over the soil and collect in the oceans, lakes or rivers where the cycle starts all over again.

5.     When you fold the book back up I had them

draw a picture of the water cycle and title it

“Water Cycle”.  My daughter drew a picture of the ocean with a sun in the right corner and a cloud in the left corner with rain falling from the cloud.  She drew arrows to show the cycle and that it keeps going, and going, and going.

Note:  Since the water cycle is a phase that keeps going you may wish to show this with a circle type book instead of the fold I used. 

* You may show the phase evaporation by heating a kettle of water on the stove.  The steam you see would be the vapor rising.  The heat could be related to the sun.  Then I took a frozen container out of the freezer and suggested that this could represent when the air gets cold and forms a cloud.  I held the frozen container over the kettle and little droplets began to fall, which showed precipitation. 

Science:  Medicine in the Middle Ages

·                 On August 8^th – August 16 Toby is sick.  Reread the section and talk about the difference between medical care then and now.
            During the middle ages medicine was not very advanced.  Their treatment was to bleed the patient. They though the bad stuff
            would just fall out of you.  Other ways they treated you were to put leeches on you or have you swallow a piece of sheepskin cut like
            a star.

The plague or Black Death was an awful contagious disease that was present during this time period.   Fleas carried the disease.  They did not have good hygiene back then.  They did not take a bath everyday to wash away the germs.  They wore the same clothes everyday, especially the peasants.  When they did finally take a bath they would use lavender flowers and sometimes mint.  Modern scientists say that the mint and lavender may have helped keep the fleas away.

The nursery rhyme Ring around the Rosy has a secret meaning.  It comes from the days of the plague.  Ring around the rosy stands for a dance with everyone holding hands and marching around a tree in a circle.  Pocket full of posey was for the flowers that people carried in their pockets to cove up the smell of the sores caused by the disease.  Ashes, ashes is for the bodies that had to be burned so that more people wouldn’t be infected.  All fall down stands for death.  I don’t look at this nursery rhyme the same anymore.
 

 Language Arts:  Medieval Language

 Discuss the language the book is written in.  For example when it refers to, “after we broke fast this morning”, they are talking about Breakfast.

Language Arts:  Journal Project 

This story is written in the form of a journal.  Toby has been sent to be a page in his uncle’s castle.  While there, he keeps a detailed journal of everything that happens.

During this study I had each child keep a journal.   You can write the journal as yourself or you can pretend to be some one from the middle ages.  You can even have an entry for a day in the writing style of the middle ages.  They did not have lower case letters and they did not leave spaces between their words so it would look something like this:

January 26, 2006

IHAVE THEBESTTEACHERINTHE WORLD

For the younger children they can draw pictures, make a list of what they did, or dictate to someone to write for them.

Language Arts:  Write a Diamond-Shaped Poem

                   A diamante poem is a poem shaped a little like a diamond.
                   Every line tells more about one topic.  The lines do not need to
                   rhyme.  Here is one form.

          1^st line ~ one noun, or word, that names a thing

           2^nd line ~ two adjectives, or words, that describe that thing
 

          3^rd line ~ three verbs with –ing endings
 

          4^th line ~ two adjectives
 

          5^th line ~ one noun that renames the first noun

Here are two examples.  They are the ones my children did during our study.

Plague

scary, dark

screaming, yelping, hurting

destroys, horrible

Death

By:  Amanda Gosline

Jester

funny, joker

dancing, jumping, singing

laughable, colorful

Clowns

By:  Nicholas Gosline

 Language Arts:  Elements of a Good Story

·        Talk about the main character.  Toby is the main character.  He is a noble boy.  He went to his uncle’s to learn to become a knight.
   Talk about the setting.  The story setting is in Europe at a castle during the Middle Ages.

Language Arts: Creative Writing
contributed by Jimmie

Have your student write a postcard to another character in the book telling about his time at the castle.  Students  who like to draw can add their own illustration to the blank one.

Postcard 1- banquet with graphic
Postcard 2- banquet no graphic
Postcard 3- castle with graphic
Postcard 4- castle no graphic

Applied Math Ideas

·        Toby’s aunt played backgammon and chess.  Teach your child/ren how. 

 

·     A knight’s armor was heavy.  A full suit of armor was about 66 pounds.  How much more/less is this then you.  What can you find that weighs about 65 pounds?  My little guy weighs 24 lbs so that would be like carrying around about three of him all day.  Tournament armor is even heavier its about 120 pounds.  Find something that weighs that.  How would that affect how you did things.  Helmet was 40 pounds, sword 3 pounds, shield 10 pounds.  Can you find an item to compare to each of these items to see how heavy that is?

How many pounds would you be carrying around if you had a full suit on and a helmet?  Now you are going into battle so add in the weight of a sword and shield.

Prepared Armor of God Book artwork by Breezy Tulip
 

Ephesians 6:10-18 (The Armor of God) ~ read these verses and discuss them.  I took a piece of paper and folded to look like a brochure.  On the outside we wrote the title “The Armor of God”.  When you open it up we glued the verse in this spot.

Ephesians 6:10-18

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in

his mighty power.  Put on the full armor

of God  so that you can take your stand

against the devil’s schemes.  For our

struggle is not against flesh and blood,

but against the rulers, against the

authorities, against the powers of the

dark world and against the spiritual forces

of evil in the heavenly realms.

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so

that when the day of evil comes, you may

be able to stand your ground, and after you

have done everything, to stand.  Stand firm

then, with the belt of truth buckled around

your waist, with the breastplate of

righteousness in place, and with your feet

fitted with the readiness that comes from

the gospel of peace.  In addition to all this,

take up the shield of faith, with which you

can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the

evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation and

the sword of the Spirit, which is the word

of God.  And pray in the Spirit on all

occasions with all kinds of prayers and

requests.  With this in mind, be alert and

always keep on praying for all the saints.

  On the inside of the paper, where it is fully open, we glued a picture of a knight putting a picture of their face in the spot where a face would go.  I gave them the following slips of paper and they labeled their knight.
 

“…. Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

Put on the full armor of God so that you can take

your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Vs 10-11

The Shield of Faith (Eph. 6:16)

Faith is being sure that God will keep His

 promises.  Faith in God protects you when

 you are tempted to doubt.

Feet prepared with the Gospel of Peace (Eph. 6:15)

The Gospel of Peace is being right with God and

being contented in troubled times.  Jesus said

 peacemakers were blessed.

The Helmet of Salvation (Eph. 6:17)

Put on the Helmet of Salvation by

believing that Jesus Christ died for

your sins and rose again.

The Breastplate of Righteousness (Eph. 6:14)

Righteousness is being honest, good, humble,

and fair to others.  It means standing up for

 weaker people.

The Belt of Truth (Eph 6:14)

Truth keeps us from giving in to the world’s

beliefs.  Compare your beliefs and actions to

the truth of the Word of God.

The Sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17)

Which is the Word of God.  God’s Word is our

offensive weapon.  When we tell others what the

Bible says, the Holy Spirit helps people see their

bad thoughts and actions, and makes them want

to be forgiven.

Just for Fun

Feast

Have a medieval feast.  We cooked chicken and home made bread.  We played Georgian Chants in the background and ate by candlelight because they did not have lights during this time.  We talked about the things we have now that they did not have then.  Back then they used bread as plates and they did not have forks.  Only if you were very rich did you have plates.  We discussed table manners back then and ours.

Make a Medieval Menu! 


Make a Helmet!
To make a really cool helmet (complete with visor!), purchase some 18x24 tag board or card stock and a couple of brass fasteners and print out the PDF file located at:  http://www.clevelandart.org/kids/art/haveago/armor.html

or you can download it directly by clicking here:  http://www.clevelandart.org/downloads/helmet.pdf

Your children may wish to decorate it before assembling it. It looks more difficult than it is!

Here is another link to the same helmet instructions (also a PDF file), but it also includes information about medieval armor, ideas for a teacher to use, and full color photos of pieces of real armor. (19 pages total).    www.clemusart.com/educef/art2go/pdf/armor_binder.pdf    (Celia thought the idea of studying animals that wear armor sounded like fun!  Lobsters, armadillos, turtles, etc.  Neat tie-in!)

 

Make a Lapbook!

In the Hands of a Child Middle Ages Lapbook


Read A-louds and Readers for the children

The Duchess Bakes A Cake

The Minstreal in the Tower

Crispin
 

The Door in the Wall

The Castle Mystery (Boxcar children)

Knights in Shining Armor

You Wouldn’t Want to Be a Crusader A War You’d Rater Not Right

Castles

Medieval Life

Favorite Medieval Tales

The Sword in the Stone

Days of the Knights A Tale of Castles and Battles

Saint George and the Dragon

Behold the Dragons by Gail Gibbons

King Arthur and the Knights of The Round Table

The Usborne Time Traveler Knights and Castles

Tales of King Arthur

The Queen’s Progress An Elizabethan Alphabet

Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest

Magic Tree House The Knight at Dawn

Merlin and the Making of the King

I Wonder Why Castles Had Moats

Ms Frizzle’s Adventures Medieval Castle

Math Books

Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland

Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi

Sir Cumference and the Sword in the Cone

Music :  Gregorian Chants;  Notre Dame School, Organuem , Motet, Machaut (Listen to)