Fourth-grade teacher Martin Durnell dressed up in knightly garb — heraldic tunic, cape, helm and hood, gauntlets, and pauldrons (shoulder armor) — leading into a lesson on knights and castles.

“The focus of this activity was to finish up an informative paragraph on lords and serfs so we could move on to the next CKLA lesson discussing knights and castles,” Durnell said.

“This costume represents a coat of arms that allowed a person to be identified in battle and often, if not always was an image of your family crest,” Durnell said. “The silver represents armor and was purposed to protect in battle.”

He hoped his students seeing him dressed as a knight would help get them excited about the subject matter.

Warren Area Elementary Center fourth-grade teacher Martin Durnell — dressed as a medieval knight — helps Sakura Hedstrand and Jaxson Bass with a lesson on lords and serfs.

“My desire with this activity was to motivate the kids to foster within them a greater interest in the material as well as to tailor an environment of engaged learners,” Durnell said. “The kids were really engaged in what was being discussed here. I think I was able to do that for them through this use of immersion and imagery.”

The castles and knights lesson and a recent lesson in second grade with students working on henna art related to the Indian festival of Diwali are examples of the Core Knowledge Language Arts curriculum at the school, according to Assistant Principal Kylie Harris.

“All of these amazing cultural activities popping up in our classrooms at WAEC are secondary to the newly-implemented Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) curriculum,” Harris said. “In addition to teaching core reading and writing skills, the curriculum is incredibly rich in literature, history, and the sciences, including health/human body. Many of our teachers are finding ways to add additional fun and exciting culminating activities at the conclusions of the planned units to increase student interest and bring all of the component parts of the units together into one fun and highly memorable student experience.”