How do you build a castle? Fourth-grade students in Kelly Orlando’s art classes did just that after talking with a special guest – nonother than their principal Joel Melvin.
Melvin, who has once worked for a masonry restoration company which focuses on preserving historic buildings, taught the students about masonry. He explained the kind of paste used to secure bricks, as well as how the bricks were stacked in a specific pattern to make the walls strong to provide protection against enemies.
“We discussed how in medieval times the castles were probably built in a similar way, but without the modern equipment we use today and without safety scaffolds to keep the workers from falling,” explained Orlando. “It was probably a pretty risky job, but the fact that some of the castles are still standing is a testament to their craftsmanship.” The students also learned about the differences between castles, which were designed as fortresses, and palaces, which were no longer needed for defensive purposes and could be more stylistic in terms of architectural details.
After learning about medieval castles and how they were constructed, the students embarked on building their own medieval castles out of clay. They began with a clay slab (clay pancake) and added texture and architectural details. Lastly they coated them with metallic paint.
