THE MIDDLE AGES

An integrated unit for Grade ​4

OVERALL GOALS FOR THE UNIT

Integrated SOCIAL STUDIES LANGUAGE AND LITERACY - VISUAL ART
WRITING
Subjects

Individuals in the Middle Ages led
KNOW complex and rich lives. We can see
THAT this through an examination of their
social structure, daily life,
architecture, and interrelationships.
(Expectation A3)
Effective works of writing have an
intended audience and purpose,
and they must be organized and
well-thought out. (Expectation 1)
Art can be used as a way to
create narrative works on a
particular theme or topic.
(Expectation D1)

Use the social studies inquiry Generate, gather, and organize Apply the elements of design to
DO process to investigate and analyze ideas using graphic organizers to create works of art that represent
features of Medieval life. create clear and concise works of aspects of Medieval life.
writing.

· Accurate · Organized · Creative

BE · Open-minded · Purposeful · Expressive
· Critical thinkers · Creative · Accurate
· Curious · Effective communicators · Risk-takers
CULMINATING TASK:
Students will create a 3-D artifact that represents an aspect or feature of Medieval life. Using the social studies inquiry process,
they will select an element of Medieval life (government, religion, knighthood, technological developments, etc.) and become an
expert on it. They will select one item or object that they feel best represents this element, and create a 3-dimensional artifact using
recyclable materials. They will organize their thoughts using graphic organizers, and produce a write-up on their artifact. To
accommodate for the different learning needs, students must still organize their thoughts and ideas, but they can choose to have a
conference or make a video instead of producing a write-up.

SUBTHEMES
(these don’t have to be linear or approached in a specific order)

Subtheme: Guiding Learning Activities ​(across all three subject Assessment Opportunities Resources
Question(s): areas) As and For to guide the
students
 What does the Discuss our own daily lives as 9-year-olds – Assessment ​for​ Learning: https://www.d
daily life of what does our day look like? Do a Think, Pair, Create a Menti World Cloud ucksters.com/
Daily Life someone in Share and record and project answers on the and start a KWHL Chart on history/
the Middle screen. the Middle Ages. What do middle_ages/
Ages look like? students already know about daily_life_in_t
Watch A Day in the Life of a 10-Year-Old in the Middle Ages? What do he_middle_a
What did men the Middle Ages: they want to learn? ges.php
do? What did https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVMvl05h
women do? CrI& Assessment ​as L ​ earning: ask
· What does his daily life look like? Use a students to complete a student
How does it graphic organizer to lay out his daily reflection sheet to self-assess
differ from our routine. how they depicted their role
own daily · How does his routine differ from yours? and daily life.
lives? What How is it similar?
are some
similarities and Citizens in the Street - click each person to
differences? find out their daily life and role:
http://www.camelotintl.com/village/street.ht
ml

Hand out the Role-Play Cards (from Hands on

Social Studies) and activity sheet. Have
students complete/fill out the activity sheet
based on the card they received. Use
background knowledge and creativity to
develop your character.
· Have students group themselves
according to roles that might interact in
daily life, and ask them to create a short
play depicting a typical interaction.
 How did the Examine these images created by Medieval Assessment ​for ​Learning:
society in the artists that depict feudalism: make notes of students’
Social Middle Ages · responses to the paintings.
Structure function? How https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/16 What do they already know
(Royalty, might the 00/0*1-4r6FsQq84tLZfh about Medieval social
Nobility, social order · http://lib.oup.com.au/secondary/history/ structure? How can we help
Peasants) have Big_Ideas_History/8/03_SAL_BAH8_SB_7109 them learn more?
benefitted both 7_SPREADS_RGB.pdf
sides? Did one What do you think is happening in these
side benefit images? What do you wonder? Who are the
more than the people? What do you think their roles are?
other?
Brainstorm roles and responsibilities people
have in our community. What roles and jobs
do you think people had in the Middle Ages?
Which roles and jobs might be the same?
Which might be different?

Create a pyramid. In the Middle Ages, who

would be at the top part of the pyramid, with
the most power and wealth? Who would be at
the bottom of the pyramid? Who would be in
the middle of the pyramid?
 What were Castles, Churches ​Assessment ​for​ Learning:
Architecture some of the what are some preconceptions
buildings like in What do you think a castle in the Middle Ages about castles? How can we fix
the Middle needs? Let’s construct one as a class based them?
Ages? What on our prior knowledge using TinkerCad. We
was their will do some research, and come back and
purpose? create a new castle based on our research.

Explore a castle:
http://www.timeref.com/3dindex.htm​ What are
some elements of a medieval castle? How
might they be different from those that we see
in the media?

Knights What were the Read the article, “Becoming a Knight” in the Assessment ​for​ Learning:
roles and Nelson Literacy Grade 4 book. Do a text Observe and take anecdotal
responsibilities features walk. What are some aspects of a notes on students’
of knights? text that we should keep in mind? understanding of the text. Ask
What is the questions for reading
process of Fill out a graphic organizer. What are the steps comprehension.
becoming a to becoming a knight?
knight? Assessment ​as​ Learning: ask
Can you label the different parts of a knight’s students to peer-assess a
armour? partner’s graphic organizer.
What did they do well? What
is missing?
 How did Archaeological Dig Activity from Hands on Assessment ​for​ learning:
Technology/T people in the Social Studies observe students and record
ools Middle Ages · Show students a picture of an artifact on their inquiry questions.
use technology the projector. Ask them to brainstorm Provide feedback and leading
for their questions about the artifact and record questions.
benefit? What them on a sticky note. What do you think
technological the object is, what do you think it is made
advancements of, and what do you think it was used for? Assessment ​as l​ earning: ask
did they come Share with a partner, and then share with students to fill out an exit card
up with? the class. about what they learned about
· How can we find the answers to your their artifact. Ask them to
questions? What can we do? reflect on their inquiry
· Work together as a class to answer some questions. How effective was
of the inquiry questions about the artifact. the researching process?
· Sort the answers in a graphic organizer
according to the 5Ws: what is this object,
who used this object, where could it have
been found? When was it made? What is it
made from? What was it used for? Why
was it an important object to the people
who used it?
· Assign each group a picture of an artifact
and ask them to critically analyze it. Create
questions, record ideas, inferences, and
facts.

Writing activity: Ask students to write a

creative writing piece from the perspective of
the object. Using the information from the
research, they should be able to accurately
 write a paragraph about the artifact’s use and
purpose in the Middle Ages.

List of inventions from the Middle Ages:

http://www.lordsandladies.org/inventions-in-the
-middle-ages.htm

Food What did the What do we usually eat? Where does our food
peasants and come from? Do you think people in the Middle
serfs eat? Ages had access to food from far away
What did the places? If so, who had access to this?
nobility eat?
How might Brainstorm some inquiry questions about a
their diets be person in the Medieval era’s diet. Consider the
different? Why diet of the peasants, priests, and nobility.
would they be
different? Keeping in theme with Canada’s Food Guide,
create a plate for each of the groups of
society. What is similar and what is different
about them? How does it differ from our own
plates?

Curriculum Expectations Uncovered in this unit​:

​List the overall and specific expectations here for all three curriculum subjects

Social Studies
Overall Expectation: A3. Understanding Context: demonstrate an understanding of key aspects of a few early societies (to 1500),
including at least one First Nation and one Inuit society, each from a different region and era and representing a different culture, with
reference to their political and social organization, daily life, and relationships with the environment and with each other (FOCUS ON:
Significance)

Specific Expectations:
· A3.1 identify the location of some early societies, including at least one First Nation and one Inuit society, on a globe or on print,
digital, and/or interactive maps, and demonstrate the ability to extract information on early societies’ relationship with the
environment from thematic maps
· A3.2 demonstrate the ability to extract information on daily life in a few early societies, including at least one First Nation and
one Inuit society, from visual evidence
o ​(e.g., art works such as paintings, sculptures, carvings, masks, mosaics, hide paintings, beadwork, quillwork,
soapstone carvings; clothing; ceremonial dress; regalia; petroglyphs; monuments; rock/earth mounds; artefacts
such as tools, household utensils, pottery, religious articles, weapons)
· A3.3 describe significant aspects of daily life in a few early societies, including at least one First Nation and one Inuit society
o ​(e.g., with reference to food, housing, clothing, education, recreation, spiritual/religious life, family life,
transportation, ceremonies, ways of giving thanks and acknowledgement)
· A3.5 describe the importance of the environment for a few early societies, including at least one First Nation and one Inuit
society, with a particular focus on how the local environment affected the ways in which people met their physical needs
o ​(e.g., food, housing, clothing)
· A3.6 identify and describe some of the major scientific and technological developments in the ancient and medieval world,
including some from at least one First Nation and one Inuit society
o ​(e.g., calendars; the printing press; developments in agriculture, architecture, medicine, transportation,
weaponry, navigation)
· A3.7 describe how a few early societies, including at least one First Nation and one Inuit society, were governed
o ​(e.g., early democracy in Greece or Haudenosaunee society; city states on the Swahili Coast; emperors in
China; the roles of nobles, priests, and the military in Aztec society, of kings, nobles, and knights in medieval
France, or of chiefs in the Haida nation)
· A3.8 describe the social organization of a few different types of early societies, including at least one First Nation and one Inuit
society (e.g., a slave-owning society, a feudal society, an agrarian society), and the role and status of some significant social and
work-related groups in these societies
 o (​ e.g., women, men, children, slaves, peasants, nobles, monarchs, warriors, knights, priests/priestesses, druids,
shamans, imams, monks, nuns, merchants, artisans, apprentices, scribes, midwives, healers)

Writing
Overall Expectation: 1. generate, gather, and organize ideas and information to write for an intended purpose and audience

Specific Expectations
· 1.1 identify the topic, purpose, and audience for a variety of writing forms
o ​(e.g., a cinquain or shape poem modelled on the structures and style of poems read, to contribute to a student
poetry anthology for the school library; a set of directions to complete a science experiment on pulleys and gears,
for a class presentation; a timeline of significant events in the writer’s life, to accompany a biography for a class
collection)
· 1.2 generate ideas about a potential topic using a variety of strategies and resources
o ​(e.g., brainstorm; formulate and ask questions to identify personal experiences, prior knowledge, and information
needs)
· 1.3 gather information to support ideas for writing using a variety of strategies and oral, print, and electronic sources
o ​(e.g., identify key words to help narrow their searches; cluster ideas; develop a plan for locating information;
scan texts for specific information, including teacher readalouds, mentor texts, reference texts, shared-, guided-,
and independent-reading texts, and media texts)
· 1.4 sort and classify ideas and information for their writing in a variety of ways
o ​(e.g., by underlining key words and phrases; by using graphic and print organizers such as mind maps, concept
maps, timelines, jot notes, bulleted lists)
· 1.5 identify and order main ideas and supporting details and group them into units that could be used to develop a summary,
using a variety of graphic organizers
o ​(e.g., a Venn diagram, a paragraph frame) and organizational patterns (e.g., generalization with supporting
information, cause and effect)
· 2.1 write more complex texts using a variety of forms
o ​(e.g., a storyboard using captions and photographs or drawings to recount a significant event in their life; a
report, including jot notes, comparing the environments of two or more regions in Canada; a letter to the author
about the student’s reaction to a particular text; a summary of the role of a medieval person; a review of a book or
 website; an original folk tale, fairy tale, or tall tale, or an extension of an existing tale; a board game related to a
unit of study)

Visual Art
Overall Expectation: D1. Creating and Presenting: apply the creative process (see pages 19–22) to produce a variety of two- and
three-dimensional art works, using elements, principles, and techniques of visual arts to communicate feelings, ideas, and
understandings

Specific Expectations:
· D1.1 create two- and three-dimensional works of art that express feelings and ideas inspired by their interests and experiences
o ​(e.g., a comic strip or a storyboard featuring a space voyage; an oil pastel drawing of peers in sports or dance
poses; a painted still life of objects related to a hobby)
· D1.2 demonstrate an understanding of composition, using selected principles of design to create narrative art works or art works
on a theme or topic
o ​(e.g., a collaborative mural depicting a historical or an imaginary landscape in which objects and figures placed
in the foreground create areas of emphasis, and objects placed in the background show diminishing size; a relief
print of a seascape in which shapes that are similar, but are different in size or colour, give the work both unity and
variety)