Resources for Teaching Elementary School
Lesson Plans & Classroom Exercises
From the Discovery Channel's Lesson Plans Library K-5-> World History: The Middle Ages (archived)
The Discovery Channel's World History resources for The Early Middle Ages and The High Middle Ages include a wide range of links to, among other things, study guides, vocabulary words, activities, and related sources, organized for K-5, 6-8, 9-12.
This is a description of the Late Julian Wasserman's Summer program for K-8 teachers, which is no longer in existence. However, what's here might serve as a model for other schools.
"The Loyola and LEH Summer Institute, 'King Arthur for Kids' is a four week intensive seminar for elementary and middle school teachers (K-8) in the Greater New Orleans area. Its purpose is to explore the legend of King Arthur to understand its origins and development so that teachers might help students understand the way that legends grow and function in our own society. Most important will be the exploration of why this story endured, becoming a part not only of British or even Western Culture but of world culture as well. This understanding will lead to a consideration of several enduring themes: identity and destiny, discovery of self, and the pledging of oneself to something greater than one's self. Finally, we will explore some of the more modern reworkings of the legend that have become cultural staples in our own and, again, world culture. Such modern accounts encompass the visual arts as well as music (both popular and classical) and touch upon disciplines such as Literature, Philosophy, Art History, Architecture, Mythology, History, and Sociology. An important part of the Institute's focus will be on developing pedagogical strategies to enhance the learning experience and cross-cultural understanding of their students, which will include developing craft projects and local field trips. Participants will be asked to contribute to the web page generated last year for 'Making the Middle Ages Fun,' so that other area teachers might benefit from the participants' ideas and experiences."
Sample Syllabus for Making the Middle Ages Fun from the late Julian Wasserman's Summer Teachers Institute at Loyola University in June of 2000.
"Our on-going project has been to create a website that might serve as a resource for teachers K-12 who include (or even would like to include) medieval materials in their courses. The contents here are as eclectic as our interests and teaching experiences. Here you will find syllabi, handouts, and reviews of material that we have found helpful in our own teaching and studies. We've also tried to create links to web materials that seem particularly useful as well."
Study.com's series of three collections of course materials on medieval history for elementary school students, including video, syllabi, and quizzes, for The Dark Ages, Feudalism, and Medieval Europe.
Materials for Studying King Arthur
Kiddle's King Arthur Facts for Kids
Study.com's "King Arthur Lesson Plan for Elementary School
NEH's EDSITEment Lesson Plan for Tales of King Arthur
BBC's Teach Class Clips--Castles and Knights: The Legend of King Arthur
ESL printable Worksheets for King Arthur on various topics for ages ranging from 7 to 17.
Projects and Activities
Becky Fleming's Fifteen Simple Activities and Assignments
A list of varied and creative ideas for introducing K-12 students to the Middle Ages through King Arthur, Chaucer, and Dante.
Arthurian Legend Activity Ideas
Description of activities for a class at Edleston County Primary School in Crewe, England, including the creation of a book Tales from Camelot, an Arthurian cartoon created by the teacher, G. Pitchford, and some recommended books.
Coats of Arms and Castles (archived)
Art Project Director, Susan Holman of Lusher Elementary and Middle Schools conducted these projects in 1998-99. This is part of the website for Loyola University's "Summer Teachers Institute, 'Making the Middle Ages Fun,' that was sponsored by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities in June of 2000. Our on-going project has been to create a website that might serve as a resource for teachers K-12 who include (or even would like to include) medieval materials in their courses. The contents here are as eclectic as our interests and teaching experiences. Here you will find syllabi, handouts, and reviews of material that we have found helpful in our own teaching and studies. We've also tried to create links to web materials that seem particularly useful as well."
Activity ideas for an Arthurian festival for kindergartners and elementary school children
Below are links to a thread from Arthurnet (Nov. 2000) about teaching Arthuriana, history and folk traditions to 3-5 year olds. The responses, however, seem just as applicable to teaching elementary school students as pre-schoolers and kindergarteners, so we have included links to the individual messages here.
The initial question
Response #1
Response #2
Response #3
Response #4
Response #5
Response #6
Arthurian Origami (archived)
Website connected to a book of the same name. "Anyone who can fold a simple origami crane will be able to re-create the legend of King Arthur--castles, knights, sorcerers, dragons, and all." You need the book for complete instructions, but the website has numerous detailed pictures of the paper folding possibilities.
A Millennial Quest for Arthur (archived)
In January 2000 two undergraduate students left for a month-long research trip, sponsored by Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, Alabama. After traveling over 3000 miles across the Island of Britain, Joseph W.C. Boyles and W. Jacob Livingston, III, created this site for people who wish to learn more about those places associated with King Arthur and the legends attached to them. The archived version of the site has all the text, but the links to the photos are broken. Some of the pictures, however, are still available at Vortigern Studies.
Kamishibai Story Telling for Medieval Tales
Kamishibai were a form of Japanese folk art from the 1920s to the 1950s in which itinerant candy sellers would use painted storyboards to tell a story. Here are several projects that use kamishibai to tell the story of Beowulf, which could easily be adapted to Arthurian stories.
Gretchen Lee's 6th Grade Kamishibai Guide
Ms. Lee's 6th Graders' Kamishibai Stories
The Knight with the Lion is an exciting, interactive resource for children. It tells the story of Yvain, one of King Arthur's knights, and his intrepid lion companion, as well as Gawain, Lancelot and others. Readers get to choose which knights to follow and which adventures to explore, and to make decisions for them, as they wander through the mysterious Forest of Broceliande. The Reader can discover all aspects of medieval life, from armor and warfare to castles and clothing through the historical link material, with vivid illustrations and photographs and clear explanation.
This site is provided by Aberdeen University's Literature Website.
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Last revised: January 4, 2022
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