Melissa+Ludlow



Castles Non-fiction Bingham, Jane. 2005. //The Great Castle Search//. Scholastic. 32 pages. I own it.  This book is that talks about castles. It tells the story of castles, life in a castle at a feast, tournament, family home, the tower, bailey, etc. In each picture you have certain parts of the image that you have to find. Under the images that you have to find there is a little description. This book shows how castles changed over time. You can talk about families in this book to pertain to social studies. You are able to talk about how families worked and who did what. For example how girls did needlework and boys became squires.  For language and literacy you can have the children tell you which way to hold the book so that you can see the pictures. Some of the pictures are sideways. You will be working on book handling skills. For math you can talk about what activities happens inside the castle and outside the castle. Then talk about what kinds of things you do inside the classroom and what you do outside the classroom.

Cole, Joanna. 2003. //Ms. Frizzle’s Adventures: Medieval Castle//. Scholastic Press. 40 pages. I own it.  //Ms. Frizzle’s Adventures: Medieval Castle// is an informational book that also has a story. The story is about how Arnold and Ms. Frizzle go back to the medieval times and go to a castle. While they are at the castle an enemies’ army comes and attacks the castle. Arnold is sent out to get help. He returns with help and the castle is safe, and they return back to their time. On the bottom of almost all the pages there is informational text. It talks about who lives in the castle, who works in the castle, what a castle is, what the defense was, etc. This is a good social studies book as it describes and shows how people had to deal with their enemies and how they stayed safe.  This book has a page or two where it talks about what they ate. This works with the content science. You can talk about how they cooked their food and how they grew food. Then you can do an activity were you have the children grow food. The children then can document the growing process. Another area that you can talk about is math. There are many different shield and the children can count how many there are. You could also have some shields already prepared and ready and the children have to sort them by color or style.

Murrell, Deborah. 2005. //The Best Book of Knights and Castles//. Kingfisher. 32 pages. Palomino Library.  //The Best Book of Knights and Castles// is a book describes what it was like to be a knight in the middle ages. It talks about what some of the knights did. On page 23 of the book it talks about how there were knights who “took care of the sick” and how knights “became more militant in the 1100s”. The book also talks about how castles were made. There is also information about jousting, heraldry, and chivalry. An interesting fact that I learned is that there was a tree of chivalry, where a knight’s shield was hung on the tree to show that they were going to be part of the competition (p. 15). This book helps to show who worked/lived in castles and what their life was like. This is a good social studies book because it gives facts and shows how the knights lived. It shows that they have some similarities between then and now.  This book is child friendly. The content and pictures are appropriate for young children. This book can be used to work on social interactions. In //The Best Book of Knights and Castles//, it talks about chivalry, which is the rules and manner of being a knight. You can use this idea from the book to talk to the class how in the class there are rules in how they are to behave. You could come up, as a class, a list of rules for everyone to follow so that there is chivalry in the classroom. Another area that this book can work on is physical development linking it to jousting. You could create games where children have to work as teams and as individuals to compete in. You could set it up as having a fair, doing activities to work on the children’s gross motor skills.

Star, Fleur. 2005. //Castle and Knight//. DK publishing. 48 pages. Maricopa Public Library //Castle and Knight // is a book about what life was inside a medieval castle. This book is a non-fiction book. It has facts and details about castles and what life was like in the middle ages. There are several chapters, and each chapter is two pages. Some of the chapters are “What is a castle?,” “Early castles,” “Who lived there?,” “Tricks of defense,” “Moorish castles,” “Asian castles,” and “Castles today.” This book has excellent definitions and explanations that are easy to explain to young children. An example of this would be on page 4, in the chapter “What is a castle?,” in answer to the question it explains that castles “were more than just homes for important people, such as kings and lords – they were also defense posts.” There are many photographs of castles and artifacts that knight would have used in that time period. Some/parts of the photographs are labeled and describe what they are and how they were used. With the book //Castle and Knight//, you could use this book for grades pre-school through 3rd grade. For the younger grades you would need to modify the book; summarizing the information in some chapters or skipping some chapters in general, just depending on what you want to focus on. In preschool, one area besides social studies that you could use this book for would be language and literacy. You could do an activity after reading //Castle and Knight// where the student has to tell you one thing they remember or liked about the book that they learned. They could give answers that have to do with moats, drawbridges, knights armor, how castles were first made out of sticks and then stone, etc. Another area would be science. For science there are many activities you could do. One is making structures out of different materials and seeing how long they last after being attacked. One way to do this activity is using paper to make some type of structure and using blocks to make another structure. Then use paper balls to hit the structures and then talk about what happened; talk about the similarities between making castles with sticks and stones and making structures with paper and blocks.

Tong, Willabel. 1997. //A Three-dimensional Medieval Castle//. Viking. 8 pages. Civic Center Library. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> //A Three-dimensional Medieval Castle// is a book that you can open 360 degrees and tie together and it stands as a three-dimensional object, or you can look at each page individually. This book has figures of knights, ladies, lords, and a dragon that can be punched out and played with in the castle. This shows one way that people lived, in the medieval times, in castles. In the castle it shows the different rooms. There is the throne room, dining room, bedrooms, etc. There are doors that you can open and curtains you can move. Through play children are able to explore what a castle would have looked like in medieval times. There are no words in this book; however, it is the type of book where you don’t need words. Children can create their own story that goes with the book. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Language and literacy is one subject that can be used with this book. You can work with children on using details to describe what they see and how the story is read (they can create their own story). Another subject that can be used is math. This book can be used to measure objects in the castle. The punch out people can be used to measure how tall the castle is from floor to ceiling. For example talking about how many knights on horses it takes to reach the second floor of the castle. You would be able to talk about how we can measure lots of things with different objects/things.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Fiction <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">DePaola, Tomie. 1998. //The Knight and the Dragon//. PaperStar. 32 pages. Civic Center Library. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> //The Knight and the Dragon//, is a story about a knight and a dragon that have to fight each other. The only problem is that the knight has never fought a dragon before, and the dragon has never fought a knight before. The both go and research how to fight one another. Then they practice and get ready to face one another. They end up in the end both working together to barbeque. The pictures are well done and go with the story. Social studies is shown in this book by the relationship between the knight and dragon and how they become friends. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> One subject that works with this book is language and literacy. You can work with children on researching a topic, just like the knight and dragon do in the story. In preschool this would be more of a whole class or small group project that is teacher lead. Another subject that works with this book is physical development. There is a part, where the dragon is getting ready to fight the knight, which shows the dragon training in preparation for the fight. This can be done in a stretching activity. If you have P.E. you have the children stretch before you start your game.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Dolan, Hannah. 2011. //Defend the Castle//. DK Publishing. 32 pages. Civic Center Library. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> This is a Lego book and it is more informational than story but it was found under the fiction section. It is about the Lion King and his castle and the evil Dragon Wizard. It describes different weaponry and talks about knights. This story works well for preschoolers because Legos are something that all children like and are interested in. It brings two things together and makes it more interesting. The pictures are of Legos so children can us the pictures to create the same objects that they have in the pictures. Social studies works in this book because it describes tools/weaponry of knights. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> This book can be used with physical development – fine motor skills. Children can create the same objects as in the picture. This works on the children’s ability to use their fine motor skills where the children have to use their wrists and fingers to manipulate the pieces. Another area where you can do an activity is in fine arts. Children can create their own story in the dramatic play area using the knowledge they get from the book. As a teacher you can create props that are similar to the tools that are in the book for the children to use in their play.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Mayhew, James. 2004. //Who Wants a Dragon?//. Orchard Books. 32 pages. Casa Grande Public Library. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> //Who Wants a Dragon?// is about a baby dragon that is lost. The dragon meets a witch, a knight, a princess, a king and queen, and a fairy. He scares almost everyone he meets. They all run away from the baby dragon, so he believes that no one cares about him. He looks and looks for someone to want him. At the end he finds his mother who cuddles and kisses him. This is a good social studies book focusing on family. You are able to talk about, in the end, it didn’t matter that the knight, princess, witch, etc. didn’t want the dragon. The baby dragon was alright when he knew that his mom loved him. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> This book has many repetitive phrases and rhyming that make it a good book for language and literacy. This book is good for a read aloud; working on the children saying the repeating lines. Another area of content that this book would work with is social. You can use this book to expand the children’s creativity by having them come up with what they would do if they meet a dragon. You can have them act out their way that they would react.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Pendziwol, Jean. 2007. //The Tale of Sir Dragon//. Kids Can Press. 32 pages. Civic Center Library. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> //The Tale of Sir Dragon// is a book that deals with bullying. There is a girl and her friend, Dragon, who get ready to go to “Camp Camelot” where they get to dress and act as knights. Dragon ends up getting bullied by other knights that are there. The girl sticks up for Dragon and they end up going to the king. They have a discussion about how Dragon should be able to play and not be bullied. The bully learns that everyone is allowed to play and it doesn’t matter who it is, or how they look. Social studies works in this book by talking about the relationship between the girl and Dragon. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> One subject that can be expounded upon is fine arts. The girl and Dragon use different materials to create their knight armor. You can use this to show children that you can make many things out of different materials. You can bring many different materials and then have the children create their own knight armor, such as shields and helmets. You could bring a variety of materials such as milk cartons, egg cartons, boxes, aluminum, plastic wrap, etc. Another subject that can be used is language and literacy. This book has lots of rhyming in it. You can use the rhyming words from the book to do an activity where you work on rhyming words. Start with the words from the book and then have them come up with their own rhyming words.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Saltzman, David. 1995. //The Jester Has Lost His Jingle//. Jester Co Inc. I own it. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> //The Jester Has Lost His Jingle// is about a jester who does his funny song, walk, dance, and talk for the King and ends up being banished because the King did not laugh. The jester then goes out to find laughter. He travels to many places; through the desert, snow, water, and a city. He asks many people in the city why they do not laugh. He receives answers like “I have no job. I have no money. So tell me, Jester, what’s so funny?” and several others. He then meets a little girl who he asks to try to laugh. She does and ends up starting to laugh just a little to a lot. Then everyone else in the city laughs to. The Jester hurries back to the King and has him try to laugh. The King does and then so do the rest of the people in the kingdom. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> This story has a rainbow that is used metaphorically to spread the laughter. You can work on what the colors are that are in the rainbow and how many colors there are. This concept of counting goes with math. Another concept that you can take from this is in approaches to learning. Children are learning to appreciate humor in preschool. You can talk about how when we laugh or smile we help others to laugh and smile. It is a good book to introduce to young children so that they understand there is a reaction to laughing or smiling.