Chelcie Tuell
Social Studies Starter
Grade Level: Sixth Grade
Lesson Plan Title: Medieval Europe
Content Standard:
World History Standards Era 4: Expanding Zones of Exchange and Encounter
(300AD-1000 AD)
• 5.11 Understand feudalism and the rise of the Christian church as dominant
factors in Medieval Europe.
Objectives: The learner will be able to:
a. Identify the spread of Christian belief in Europe.
b. Diagram the social structure of medieval society.
c. Explain the significance of Norse migrations and invasions.
d. Describe social class and gender roles in Medieval Europe.
Materials:
 10 cups
 “Coins” for payment
 Title tags
Set: I will start by asking the students what they previously know about Medieval
Europe. I will explain and discuss the term feudalism.
“The people were organized in levels by their amount of power.
The king was at the top. He owned all of the land, but
he needed support to keep his power. He gave land to nobles who
pledged homage, or agreed to pay taxes and send knights to fight for the king.
The nobles then gave land to vassals, usually knights, who agreed to fight for
the noble or the king. A vassal is a person who holds land (a fief) from a feudal
superior in return for homage and loyalty. Peasants were at the bottom of
the pyramid; They gained land from knights or nobles in return for their loyalty
and agreeing to fight.”
I will then play an adaptation of the M&M game to reinforce the hierarchy of
feudalism.
“1. Assign one student to play the King/ Queen.
2. Assign two students to be Nobles and 2 to be Vassals.
3. The remaining students are Peasants. (To make the selection process fairer,
students can cast lots for these positions if desired).
Chelcie Tuell
Social Studies Starter
4. Tell the students that one of the Nobles has a bigger estate than the other, and
split the Peasants unequally, such that about 1/3 answers to the Vassal for one of
the Lords (Lord A) while the other 2/3 of the Peasants live on the estate of "Lord B'
and so answer to his / her Vassal.
5. Give each Peasant a plastic cup with exactly ten (eight in my demonstration)
M&Ms in it. Let them know that they are not to touch the M&M’s until instructed.
Tell the students that the M&M’s represent the crops from the land that the Peasants
have tended. Then tell the Peasants that they must pay for the protection that they
receive from their Lords with their crops. Their assigned Vassals will confiscate
seven (five in my demonstration) M&M’s (for classes under 20 students, have
Vassals confiscate seven M+Ms to make this work better) from each Peasant in that
Noble’s fiefdom.
6. From each Peasant’s payment, the Vassal may keep two of the M&Ms but he / she
must give five (three in my demonstration) of them to his Noble to pay for his
loyalty.
7. From each of the Vassal’s payment, the Noble may keep two (one in my
demonstration) M&Ms for his / her services but must give the remaining three (two
in my demonstration) pieces to the King / Queen.
8. At the end of the exercise the Peasants should each have the fewest M+Ms and
the King / Queen should have the most.
9. Ask each different role or students how they feel about what they received.
10. If desired a discussion of the church and its power could be added here. In the
middle ages, tithing (in which the biblical suggestion that 10% of what one earned
should be provided to the church) was taken very seriously. Have the students
calculate how much money (M+Ms) would have gone to the church had everyone in
the group tithed their income to the church. Given that money and power are
closely related in most social systems, have the students discuss the implications of
this for the power of the church during this period.
11. Ask the students if they think that the Feudal System was fair and why / why
not?”
Lesson Outline: Throughout the rest of the lesson, students will learn more about
medieval times and the culture. Students will do a more in depth research
assignment about the feudal system and the social class system in groups. Students
will analyze the roles of each social class: the pope/church, kings/queens, nobility,
vassals/knights, peasants, and serfs in their research projects, as well as gender
roles and expectations. Each group will collect images, photos, illustrations, and
texts that report to each social class and gender role and present their findings. As a
class, students will come up with a summary of each social class’ and gender roles
Chelcie Tuell
Social Studies Starter
and jobs and make a chart to stand as their notes, along with the hierarchal pyramid
that I will pass out.
Students will also be learning about the Bubonic Plaque and it’s affect on everyone.
I will sing the children’s’ song “Ring around the Rosie” and ask students what a kid’s
song has to do with the Black Plague.
Ring Around the Rosie: “ring around the rosie” = a red, round rash that’s
the first symptom of the disease; It normally turns black later
‘Ashes, ashes” = words in the funeral Mass: “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust” · or
“Achoo, Achoo” =imitation of sneezing sound of infected person
‘A pocket full of posies’ = the practice of putting flowers in their pockets to ward off
the disease and the smell of dying people
‘We all fall down’ = the many people who die from the plague and the fact that it
affects all classes of people.”
Students will then look at pictures showing the Black Plague.
“The disease killed approximately 25 million people in Europe and Asia
and is thought to have been carried by fleas that lived on rats. Rats
lived everywhere, especially in towns, so the disease spread very quickly.
People of this time knew nothing about germs and how they
spread disease. People came up with many reasons about why they
were being inflicted with this deadly disease. The most accepted reason was that it
was a sign of displeasure from God.
People who developed the disease developed “buboes,” which are swellings in
the armpit and neck. These swellings often turned black, which is how it got
the name of the Black Death. The disease is incurable, but many people try many
different, and some very obscure, treatments. Some people did survive, but most
died. The Black Death upset the feudal system because it created a lack of workers.
Peasants soon found themselves in high demand and their wages went up.”
Sources:
Feudalism in Medieval Europe
http://gcuonline.georgian.edu/wootton/Medieval.htm
Medieval Lessons and M&M Game
http://users.manchester.edu/Student/SRKauffman/professionalwebsite/MiddleAg
esLessons.pdf
Medieval Times: Connections Across the Curriculum
http://teachingrocks.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/med-times.pdf
Chelcie Tuell
Social Studies Starter