By Meredith Hines-Dochterman (St Joseph News-Press) August 2002
The girls learned why women weren�t participants in active sports during the Middle Ages � it isn�t easy to run in a long skirt. And the boys discovered that even real men wore tights.
Friday�s activities, which included the jousts, races in the courtyard and a feast in the dining hall, were the culmination of a weeklong summer enrichment program about the Middle Ages.
Children age 3 through those in sixth-grade learned about life in that time period, including the clothes worn, food eaten and games played.
�Our younger students studied how life was different for children their age at that time,� said Kim Schutte, director of Children First School. �They learned about knights and ladies, games children played, and what it was really like to live in a castle.�
Images of huge structures, a moat and glittering ballrooms were replaced with stories of dark hallways, damp rooms and a continuous stench.
The older students, second- through sixth-graders, studied famous people from the Middle Ages, as well Europe�s geography and food.
�I like all of the things that we made,� said Anna Brockman, 8. �It was fun.�
One leg from a pair of jeans became a horse�s head, an empty box became a horse�s body, cardboard circles became a shield and pieces of felt sewn together held a cardboard dagger. Even the entryway to the school was transformed into a castle�s entryway, complete with a drawbridge.
Lunch was served King Arthur-style, with lords, knights and ladies holding court. Ms. Schutte also got into character as the school�s troubadour, but one that told stories rather than sing.
�I told them stories about the Middle Ages during lunch,� she said. �One real and one not-so-real.�
All of the information learned during the past week came in handy Friday as students raced from one end of the courtyard to the next, girls riding side-saddle as ladies did at that time.
�I kept losing my horse,� said Marina Trifan, 10.
Then came the joust, which paired friends, classmates and sometimes siblings against each other.
At Ms. Schutte�s signal, the children ran, desperately holding on to their horses and foam lances, giggling the whole time.
�I think I did all right,� said Mitch Sampson, 11. �My horse�s head didn�t fall off.�