Attending Knight School

The king and queen wore crowns and robes that brushed the tops of their sneakers.

They arrived in a fanfare of paper-towel-roll trumpets and sat at their thrones for a morning of jesters, song, jousting and feast.

The royalty - seventh-graders Dante Bosnic and Zoe Hoefle - were guests of honor at a medieval extravaganza that 4-year-old preschoolers and kindergartners hosted recently at Independent Day School, capping off a monthlong unit on life in a castle.

Children had studied math, reading, science, art and music against the backdrop of knights and princesses. They read books about how castles were built and the teamwork required to make it run smoothly.

They studied farming, transportation and architecture, and teachers worked on math skills asking them to rank items such as crowns from largest to smallest or fewest to most, said Lori Hohmann, who teaches the 4-year-old prekindergarten class.

Art also played a large role, Hohmann said. Children painted the king and queen's thrones, decorated paper tapestries, designed family crests for each classroom and crafted costumes of Juliet caps, armor and jeweled collars.

"We wanted to make it as hands-on as possible and use their imagination," Hohmann said.

The students are studying their place in time, from ancient civilization to modern society. They started the school year excavating fossils teachers placed in plaster and learning about the dinosaur era.

The school last offered the royal court theme two years ago, so it was fresh for the kindergartners and prekindergartners who participated. Independent Day School's 3-year-old prekindergarten class got a taste of it by appearing at the feast as noble guests. They will get their chance to experience the entire event when they are in kindergarten and introduce another group of 3-year-olds to the feast.

They arrived at the school's outdoor pavilion, ducking through an entrance devised to look like a castle gate, and sat at tables with centerpieces of paper blackbirds "baked" in pies. Paper cones with orange tissue blazed like torches. A "Hear ye, hear ye" proclamation of the king and queen's royal visit hung on the wall.

Middle school social studies teacher David Freeman said the school picked its royalty based on responsibility. Dante and Zoe had to stay composed and in character through the ceremonies at the feast. Freeman said teachers were looking for a boy and girl who would "carry themselves as a role model in front of the little guys."

Dominic Bottini, 6, served as an announcer for the event and was eager to get going.

"Can we start the dubbing?" he asked.

King Dante obliged, tapping each kindergarten knight on the shoulder before the joust began. The boys carried paper swords and horses with them and took turns galloping toward each other in pairs. Whoever got tagged first had to collapse to the ground.

"We had to fight with our swords," 5-year-old Maddox Lamb said before correcting himself. "Lances. They're lances."

Prekindergartners Ava Hill, 4, and Juliana Juarez, 5, helped provide the entertainment. "We learned about playing lutes," Ava said.

The girls had cardboard lutes with rubber bands for strings that they twanged to a CD as teachers served bread and cheese. When they returned to their seats, they rinsed their hands before dining in a foil-wrapped bowl with rose petals floating in the water.

Courses of deli turkey, deviled eggs, grapes and cookies followed.

Teachers swished from table to table in flowing gowns. Students took turns standing before the king and queen, even providing animal entertainment, when some donned bear masks and did tricks for their trainers in hula hoops. Jesters provided bad knock-knock jokes.

Like any royal court, this one featured choreographed dancing. But the dancers took some creative license with their music, shedding the lutes for something a little more modern - the "Cha-Cha Slide."