Students go back to the Middle Ages

In the age of iPods, cell phones with cameras and Internet access, and 50-inch flat-screen plasma televisions, fourth-graders at Windsor Charter Academy went back to the Dark Ages. And they loved it.

Sword fighting. Shields, crowns and walking sticks. Weight-driven catapult demonstrations. Cool-looking castles and goblets.

Charter academy teacher Tori Fogg and her class have been studying the Middle Ages from the fall of the Roman Empire to the Renaissance for the last month, and her 24 students were able to get a hands-on opportunity at the Medieval Festival on Friday. Fogg said the parental involvement was crucial in putting on the festival.

Dressed in medieval costumes, the students participated in activities throughout the day, including a demonstration from the Greeley chapter of the Society for Creative Anachronism where students fenced with foam swords.

"We've studied the Middle Ages mainly in Europe from the mid-400s to the 1600s, and this is our culminating activity to celebrate everything we've learned," Fogg said. "They learned a lot about the different architecture, what castles were used for and that it was a hard time to live."

Noah Jones, 9, loved everything about the medieval unit.

"It's not just one of those old, boring lessons," Noah said. "It's a really fun thing."

He especially liked customizing his own shield and learning about castles.

"I've learned that castles were to protect, and it wasn't easy living in a castle because you were always being attacked," Noah said. "It wasn't very comfortable. It was cold and you didn't have a lot of warmth."

Mackenzie Ruff, 10, said she liked to learn about how people lived back then and the different styles of castles.

Parent volunteer Kathy Limstrom, mother of Erica, 10, said the festival has become an annual tradition. She liked the hands-on activities for the students.

"This is a fun way to put into practice things that they've been reading about, drawing pictures of and looking up on the Internet," Limstrom said. "They'll remember this a lot more because they've actually touched it, felt it and experienced it."