Knights and Castles (First Reading, Level 4)

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Drawbridge: Could be raised and lowered when necessary. It was used to protect the castle from invaders. Fantasy worlds are especially great for inspiring and supporting a range of specific learning areas, like aiding spelling and vocabulary for Literacy aims, or helping children take an imaginative approach to tasks for Expressive Arts and Design or Tech. The gradual demise of the Crusades, the disastrous defeats of knightly armies by foot soldiers and bowmen, the development of artillery, the steady erosion of feudalism by the royal power in favour of centralized monarchy—all these factors spelled the disintegration of traditional knighthood in the 14th and 15th centuries. Knighthood lost its martial purpose and, by the 16th century, had been reduced to an honorific status that sovereigns could bestow as they pleased. It became a fashion of modish elegance for the sophisticated nobles of a prince’s entourage. During a castle siege, the people in the castle could become so hungry that they would eat rats and the leather that their shoes were made from. Vegetables don't sound so bad now, do they?

During the Middle Ages, there were three main types of solders, foot soldiers, archers and knights. Knights were heavily armoured and rode on horses. Sally: You're very welcome. There's so much more to find out about. There are hundreds of years of stories about knights and castles. Many castles changed over the years and have so many stories about the things that happened there. And each knight has their own story to tell - who they were, the castles they lived in and the many exciting adventures they had! The curtained wall was one of the castle’s most important defensive feature. At first, it was just a wall with a crenelated parapet but over time the defences were developed and more towers were added.

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When the pupil presents their castle, this would also hit the spoken language objective of using spoken word to present. Use these castle pictures as role-play inspiration, discussion starters, writing prompts, and much more! Why not try our Craigmillar Castle word search activity too? Over on The Usual Mayhem they got crafty with St George and the Dragon (fantastic book for April for children to read in April in England) and made wonderful Dragon puppets and a castle. To make this clearer, the teacher could use two overlapping hoops (positioned as a Venn diagram) to capture a bank of Harry: Yeah, did they run the country? Where did they live? Did they have any rules they had to follow?

Sally: Yes and scary. Many people died in battle and so it was very risky. On the 14th of October 1066, they fought a very famous battle - the Battle of Hastings. William's army met Harold's army...but during the fighting Harold was killed. Some people say he died by an arrow to the eye. But the truth is, we don't actually know. So William's army won the battle and he became the new King. Fighting platforms were built, first from timber and later stone. At the same time, gateways evolved from simple openings within towers to twin towered gateways, keeps in their own right. Sally: Well, he had a huge decision to make: whether to fight Harold in a battle or not. But gathering an army of soldiers and paying for armour and horses and ships was very expensive. And then there was the risk that he might lose and be killed.

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Sally: Yes, the armour was very heavy and very important, as it helped protect the knights from swords and arrows. It was made of two layers: chainmail - which is armour made of lots of metal hoops linked together - was often placed in areas that needed to move easily. Over the chain mail they had more armour made of sheets of metal to protect the really important places, like a helmet to protect their heads and a breastplate to protect their chest. There was no tactical reason for building them so high. The great tower in all its forms became a symbol of power and nobility. Windsor Castle is England's largest castle. It was originally built out of wood by William the Conqueror between 1070 and 1086. Sally: Okay, sure. Let's go right to the end of the corridor and find out about William the Conqueror. Beneath the nobles were the knights. They also owned some land, given to them by the nobles and so they had to do what the nobles told them, including fighting for them. At the very bottom were the ordinary people, peasants .

Castles are fortified structures which traditionally housed royalty and nobility. Although there is some debate over what makes a building qualify as a castle, it is typically agreed upon that it must have once served as a private residence for either a Lord, Lady or noble. This video lends itself well for pupils designing, and / or building, their own castle and then presenting it. It would also be a good idea to ask what they know about kings and queens? What were they like in the past? What are the similarities and differences between a monarch in the past and monarch today? They could repeat the time travel for 100, 1000 and 10,000 years. This would be supported if the teacher could use images / props / artefacts to prompt pupil thinking. The teacher could ask questions about castles such as ‘what are they made of? ‘What are castles for?’

Take the stress out of planning for your castles topic

Each photo is labelled with a key vocabulary word from the topic such as 'dungeon' and 'moat' along with a small description of what that part of the castle was used for. This is great for spellings and getting children to understand the keywords from the topic. Inject some creativity and expression into your topic on castles with this Fairytale Coat of Arms Shield Template. Drawbridge - this could be raised or lowered to allow people to either cross the moat or stop them!

This would be enhanced if the teacher could do some examples of oral storytelling first to set expectations and give examples which would make the pupils feel more confident.

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Castles and knights are often taught as a topic in Year 1 or 2. Children will learn all about what castles were used for and the role of knights. Sally: Yes - kings, queens and nobles would often tell them what to do. It was a hard life in many ways. When the king went to war, the knights would have to fight for them. Sometimes the nobles would fight each other, which meant the knights would have to fight for them too. Castles and Knights Word Mat - Introduce your students to the most important vocab from the topic with this Castles and Knights word mat. Great for supporting your students with their spellings! Exploring castle in more detail B-Inspired Mama explored some non-fiction books with her children and produced a shape castle– I love the drawing in the castle window as well. Sally: It's a good question. Castles are all different and how they were built changed over time. At first they were built of wood, but that burnt too easily. So then they were made of stone. There were lots of changes over the years. Let's put our virtual reality headsets on and go and take a look at two castles to find out more.