Area children went medieval during a College for Kids class that celebrated the Renaissance last week at Minot State University.
The session, taught by Tina DeGree, introduced the children to kings and queens, lords and ladies, but also to the monks or, as the kids thought of them, "those guys who never talked." Noelle Ide dressed up as the village "shirker," who was made to work at night because he didn't do any work during the day.
The final feast included foods that might have been eaten during medieval times, such as figs and dates and vegetables.
Article Photos
Andrea Johnson/MDN - - From left, Anabel Zirtzman, Noelle Ide, Marissa Triplett, Hyacinth Percell, Alex Mock, Grant Zirtzman and Elijah Bosh rehearse for a play that concluded a College for Kids class on the Renaissance held last week at Minot State University.
"They didn't eat raw vegetables," Marissa Triplett said. "They thought they were unhealthy."
The children also spent part of the session making medieval castles out of tinfoil and cardboard and learning that castles were more than imposing looking houses. The castle keep was where the family lived, but the towers were built to enclose the keep and the village within its walls and keep it secure from invaders. One of the boys thought the dungeon would be a good place to keep a recalcitrant lady.
History
In a time without clocks, people relied on hour glasses to keep track of where they needed to be going.
DeGree had the children make their own hour glasses out of plastic bottles, sand and duct tape. But it didn't take an hour for the sand to go through the hour glass.
"Mine went through in about 60 seconds," Hyacinth Percell said..
DeGree also employed a high tech solution by logging onto Google Earth and pinpointing locations for the kids.
The children finished the week by putting on a play for their parents and grandparents showcasing everything they had learned.
DeGree said this was the first year a Renaissance class has been offered through College for Kids. Kids this age love learning about castles, lords and ladies and doing hands-on activities, DeGree said, so the class was a good fit. The seven children in the class ranged from elementary to middle school.
Other College for Kids classes are taking place through this month at the university and deal with a variety of topics, including robotics, creative writing and identifying salamanders.