World History Summer Session, 2014
World History Week 2
Pose questions about topics in history; suggest possible
answers and write a thesis; locate and organize primary and
secondary sources; analyze them for credibility and bias;
corroborate information across the sources; use sources to
support or refute the thesis; and present supported findings
Benchmark
Date
Day 6
Daily Guiding Question
What is meant by historic?
Who are the historic
civilizations of the
Americas?
Day 7
How do historians study
history?
What do Olmec artifacts tell
us about the Olmecs?
Day 8
What does historical inquiry
tell us about the Maya?
Day 9
What does historical inquiry
tell us about the Aztec?
Day 10
How can historical inquiry
explain Meso-America?
Lessons
Revise Paragraph 5
Meso-America Civilizations video clip
Lesson 6a: Meso-Americas Civilization,
K-Q-L
Lesson 6b: Timeline
Lesson 7a: Meso-America Word Window
Lesson 7b: What was important to the
Olmec?
Lesson 7c: Olmec Artifacts, Think-PairShare
Lesson 8a: Cracking the Maya Code video
clips
Lesson 8b: Historical Inquiry and the Maya
Lesson 9a: Aztec Sketch to Stretch
Lesson 9b: Engineering an Empire
Lesson 9c: Aztec Symbols
Historical Inquiry Essay: Paragraph 6,
Meso-America and Historical Inquiry
World History Summer School Week 2
Lesson 6a: Meso-America Civilizations, K-Q-L
Know – record student responses on board/poster paper
Read pages 157-158 and model how to generate questions and answer them (pass out post-its to students
so they can mark in the textbook)
Students complete Maya and Aztec on their own
Know
Question
Learn
Student generated questions
Students answer their own questions
Olmec
Who
What
When
Where
Why
How
Maya
Who
What
When
Where
Why
How
Aztec
Who
What
When
Where
Why
How
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World History Summer School Week 2
Lesson 6b (Generalize): Timeline of the Americas
Pass out a notecard and the reading ‘The Americas before European Contact’. Divide the class into thirds and
assign each third a different section to read. Each student must choose a date from their assigned reading, write
what happened on that date and then create a sketch on the back of the notecard. Once students are done, the class
must post their timeline in chronological order around the room. (Skip this activity if there is not enough class
time).
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/when-worlds-collide/essays/the-new-world-before-contact.html
Lesson 6b (Generalize): Popcorn from student to student asking them one new thing they learned. Use this activity
if little time left for the class period.
Lesson 7a: Mesoamerica Word Window
http://gomexico.about.com/od/ancientsites/g/mesoamerica.htm
What is it?
refers to a geographical and cultural area
which extends from central Mexico down
through Central America, including
Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El
Salvador
Color in Mesoamerica according to the present
countries is covers listed in the reading
Civilizations that developed in Mesoamerica
Shared features of these ancient civilizations:
Olmecs, Zapotecs, Teotihuacanos, Mayas and
Aztecs
* diet based on corn, beans and squash
* similar myths of origin
* calendar system
* writing systems
* ball game played with a rubber ball
Lesson 7b: What was important to the Olmec? ppt notes
Symbol
Sketch
Lesson 7c: Think-Pair-Share
Small groups of four are given a folder with pictures of four Olmec artifacts. Students will use the
pictures to answer the Olmec Symbols worksheet.
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World History Summer School Week 2
If there is time left over at the end of the period, video clips about the Olmec moving the colossal heads can be found at
http://www.rtbot.net/Olmec
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World History Summer School Week 2
Lesson 8a: Cracking the Maya Code video clips
The website below is an online TV program about Mayan writing. Watch Chapters 1, 4 and 5 to learn
more about learning to read this ancient language. There is specific information you should look for as
you watch the video chapters.
Phonetic: speech sounds, (of a system of writing) having a direct correspondence between symbols and
Syllabic: part of how a word sounds, for example, water is two syllables
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/mayacode/program.html
Chapter 1
The Forgotten
Mayan Temple
Recall: History is
what we choose to
remember about the
past
Why was the ability to read Mayan forgotten?
*
*
Why are these glyphs so important?
*
*
Why couldn’t archeologists read the glyphs accurately?
*
*
Chapter 4
Child’s Play
Analyze: History
involves figuring out
complicated
situations
What is the breakthrough David Stuart discovered in reading Mayan glyphs?
*
Chapter 5
Cultural Revelations
Apply: Use what we
know about the past
to understand the
present
What has been learned about the Maya through the reading of the glyphs?
*
*
*
*
What does it mean for present day Maya to be able to read their ancient history?
*
*
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World History Summer School Week 2
Lesson 8b: Historical Inquiry and the Maya
The website below will take you through an interactive website that gives information about theories of
the collapse of the Mayan civilization. Take your notes below and then use these to write your response
to the questions ‘Why did Copan collapse?’ and ‘Was the decline gradual or rapid?’
www.learner.org/interactives/collapse/mayans.html
Evidence that leads you to believe
the decline was gradual or rapid
People
Botany
Bones
Houses
Monuments
Synthesize: History make sense out of a jumble of facts
Evidence Evidence the artifacts listed below tell historians about
– Facts
the end of the Maya civilization
Summary: Why did the Maya civilization collapse? Was the collapse gradual or rapid?
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World History Summer School Week 2
Lesson 9a: Sketch to Stretch – creation myths
Create a sketch for each description that is read aloud.
The Aztecs and Tenochtitlan
The ancient Aztecs believed in many gods and
goddesses. The sun god, for example, brought the
sun up every day. The Aztecs believed it was
important to keep the sun god happy. They truly
believed if the sun god was not happy, he would
refuse to bring up the sun, and the world would
end.
The ancient Aztecs spent much time trying to keep
their many gods happy and well fed.
The Aztecs believed that human sacrifice was
necessary. Most of the people they sacrificed to
keep their gods happy were people captured from
neighboring tribes. This did not make them popular
with their neighbors!
Each time the Aztecs tried to settle down and build
a city of their own, other tribes in the area would
band together to chase them away. No one wanted
the Aztecs for a neighbor.
According to legend ...
One day, the Aztecs were visited by their main god,
the god of sun and war. He promised his people
that they would have a city of their own some day,
a very special place. To find this special place, they
were to look for an eagle, perched on a cactus,
holding a snake.
For the next 200 years, the Aztecs moved from
place to place; always on the lookout for an eagle,
perched on a cactus, holding a snake in his mouth.
One morning, an Aztec priest was standing on the
swampy shore of Lake Texcoco. He yawned and
looked out across the lake. On one of the small
islands on the lake, he saw an eagle, perched on a
cactus, with a snake wiggling in its mouth.
The Azteacs had found their home at last. It was on
that island that eh Aztecs founded their civilization.
The island developed into one of the most
developed cities in the world. The city was named
‘Tenochtitlan’, “the Place of the Prickly Pear
Cactus”.
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World History Summer School Week 2
Lesson 9b: Engineering an Empire: The Aztecs (Segments 1, 2, 3 only)
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/engineering-an-empire-the-maya-and-the-aztecs/
Interpret: History involves explaining people and events
“How did a tribe of wandering nomads engineer the Americas greatest empire in just 200 years?
Notes:
Sketch:
Engineering
Notes:
Sketch:
Notes:
Sketch:
Food
Communication/
Travel
Lesson 8c: Aztec Symbols Worksheet
1. Look at the Mexico flag, how does Mexico
honor their Aztec heritage on their flag?
2.
What are two symbols on the Nayarit Coat of
Arms that represent the Aztec?
Aztec Number System
Use the chart at the top of the page to help you
calculate the numbers at the bottom.
9.
10.
11.
12.
3.
What is another name for the Aztec?
13.
14.
4. Look at the Guerrero Coat of Arms, what is a
Tiger Knight?
15.
16.
5. What was a Tiger Knight’s battle suit made
of?
17.
18.
19.
6. What was a Tiger Knight’s typical weapon
made of?
7. What is another name for the Aztec
20.
21.
22.
23.
8. Who is Mexico named after?
24.
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World History Summer School Week 2
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