My fourth grade class had a wonderfully, successful class activity experiencing first hand the Feudal Society. During our Middle Ages history study, I announced that we were going to re-enact a feudal society. The desks were arranged with one at the head of the class, followed by two in the next row, then four in the following row, with the remaining desks behind these. Everyone drew a slip of paper from a cup and learned what their social status was. There was 1 King, 1 Duke, 1 Count, 2 Knights, and 2 Lords, followed by everyone else as serfs. They were given a 5x7" piece of felt as a field and 10 black beans to plant. Discussion followed pertaining to the growing and harvesting of said beans. During the harvest each serf paid their respective knights and lords 8 of their beans. The knights and lords paid the duke and count 16 beans and they in turn gave the king 21 of their beans. By this time the serfs were in an uproar. I asked questions about their opinions of the society. There were some of the knights and upper class that thought because they put their lives in danger for the king they should receive more than the serfs and be treated better. I then told them that I would exchange every bean for a skittle candy that they could eat. When the bean actually became something they wanted this elicited different responses. The king made an executive decision to give every one in his kingdom 20 candies. The students then wrote a persuasive paragraph on whether they thought the feudal society was fair or not and why. My class still refers to that activity weeks after.