How long do we have to do it?

Castles are due April 29th and can be taken home from Spring Fling .  You will take your verbal quiz on Wednesday (April 29th & 30th). Manor projects turned in early may qualify for bonus points.

Is there a specific theme? 

Depends if you are going for an Advanced grade on your castle.  For an "A", students will need to construct a concentric castle which is a castle with two walls (and inner and outer wall).  There is no specific castle you must model, but you may use a real castle as a guide or model.

What do we have to include?  What do I have to buy.

Your manor must have the castle, serf's hut or village, three fields, and a church.   All these items can be built using things found in your yard or in my classroom.  While you are allowed to put pre-made store bought items on the manor, it certainly is not required.  Many students like to paint the castle with Fleck paint to give a stone-like appearance.  This can be found at Wal-Mart or most hardware stores.  It runs about $7 a can.  If you chose this option I would recommend you paint the castle gray (I provide gray paint in class)  first and then spray the paint over it. 
I have gray house paint the students may use to paint their castle.

What is a family crest?

In class, we will create a family crest on a regular size piece of copy paper.  This crest will be recreated in a miniature format and placed on the wall in your great hall.

How do I build the outer walls?   What about the turrets?

The walls can be made from cardboard, Styrofoam, or even plywood.  Any lightweight but sturdy material will work.  Cereal boxes work great!  For the turrets (the round towers), tissue or paper towel tubes work great! 

Can I use my siblings castle? 

Using a previous castle will be considered cheating.  You can model your own castle after another castle, but using parts from any previous project will result in a zero for the project and ISS. 

Do I need to name my castle?

Your castle name should be somewhere on your manor.  It can be on the family crest or displayed elsewhere on the castle.

What if we don't have a computer?

This should not impact your project.  Any research can be done at school during class time.   This is a hands-on project so there is actually very little computer related items to the project.

Does it matter if I use a shoebox?

As long as your manor has the required parts I do not care what it is made of.  It will all be painted in the end, so no one would be able to tell you used a pre-made box.  You will need to make sure you cut out the box carefully because overall appearance is a part of the grade.

Can I build it out of wood or Legos?

I would not recommend using actual wood to build the outer walls of the castle.  It will become very heavy and hard to cut.   Using Lego's can sound like a good idea but the amount of Lego's it takes can be overwhelming.  I would recommend not using either of these for this project.

Can I bring it on the bus?

The bus drivers would prefer that you do not bring the manors on the bus.  You are welcome to bring parts of it but not the entire manor.  Several people have been poked by the project and it's size tends to take up valuable seat space.

What supplies do I need?

Some of the supplies the students have found useful to have are: hot glue guns and glue sticks, scissors , Exacto or carpet knife (which must be brought in by a parent and stored in my desk), & Popsicle sticks.