This week we spent some time looking at the social classes of the Tudor times. First, we read about it using the write-up from Homeschooling in the Woods and then read the appropriate chapters from the following book:
I asked the girls to dress up as a member of each of the six most well-known classes: King, Church, Gentleman, Yeoman, Labourer and Beggar. We put together a sort of who’s who using Ribbet PhotoShop.
Dressing Up for the Tudor Social Classes
The King:
The Church:
The Gentle Folk:
The Yeoman:
The Labourer:
The Vagrant:
Check out my first post about the resources we are using for our Renaissance Unit Study
Social Mobility in Tudor Times
I wanted to introduce the idea of social mobility: the idea that a person from one class is able to move into another (hopefully higher up) class. In the past, this was really unheard of but during the renaissance labourers could work their way up the ladder by working hard, saving hard and eventually buying their own piece of land to become landowners (yeomen). I asked the children to come up with a few ideas for a poster advertising or promoting social mobility.
Click here to see the project-based learning we are doing this year.
We will be transferring all our work at the end of the term into a newspaper. I wanted them to design a poster or advert to go in our newspaper advertising social mobility. I was very impressed by their ideas and in the end they were amalgamated to create a simple poster with only a few words (more effective):
Obviously, we couldn’t stick this poster in the newspaper, so a photo would have to do. But I really liked it nonetheless. They asked whether an individual was heading up (the social ladder) or down (the same social ladder).
Click here to read more about our lesson on Da Vinci and his ornithopter.
We had some card dolls which I use for the little ones to dress or colour. I borrowed six of them. Using my material stash cut from their old clothes, they cut, fashioned and stuck them. I helped out as needed. We ended up with these representations of each class in the social strata of Tudor times.
Top Half
Lower Half
Click here to learn more about Da Vinci’s Printing Press.
Creating a Poster
I helped them stick the dolls onto a thick card in a ladder-type formation. This showed what a person could be if they climbed the social ladder (which would have been impossible). It was a cool poster though, and they used it to give a quick impromptu presentation to Gary and T:
I’m not entirely sure why the twins look so serious throughout this study. They had fun, honestly!
Click here to learn more about Da Vinci and the Mona Lisa.
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