Mythology: Mesoamerican
This will be our last week for our study. We will end with visiting Central and South America.
Resources
These are the books that I have in my cupboards and I will be using them for the “Spines.”
People of the Ancient world Series: The Ancient Maya, The Ancient Inca, The Ancient Aztecs
I have found many books at my local library that are very kid friendly. By taking a look at the call numbers I found them all around: 972.** you should be able to find them easily enough using this number. I looked in our Juvenile section and found quite a few that would work for the age group I am teaching. Take the time to go look at what you have available at your local library and work around those!!
Hands of a child Maya, Inca, and Aztec project pack I am using the following mini-books from Hands of a Child’s Project Pact: Activities: 8 and 18. Keep in mind that this study is merely about the Myths and beliefs only. I do recommend getting this project pack and working through the rest of it as your time permits. It’s a fabulous study and would really fill out all the bits and pieces. Below are some answer cards I created to go with these activities. I would think you could create the minibooks or at least something that would work. I will not provide these, as I am using HOC’s project pack.
Cards for Activity 8: http://www.mediafire.com/?rlcizjw8a4fsydb
Cards for Activity 18: http://www.mediafire.com/?wxsz6g3vvsrfedn
Make an Aztec or Maya Mask
Masks are a large part of both the Mayan and Aztec cultures. They used masks for rituals and ceremonies. The masks represent which ever God or Goddess is being honored. For this project you have a few options. Below is a page that you can print out and color, or cut out small squares in various shades of paper to create a mosaic. You can also do a paper mache art project (Link below) if you have time to spread the project over several days.
Mayan Mask: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/97/bureau/html/screen8.html
I will be using the above link with construction paper cut out in various shades. We will then use either deca pauge or watered down glue. This we will add to a page protector in our project folders.
General Paper Mache mask Directions: http://familycrafts.about.com/od/papermache/a/plmaskcraft.htm
I highly recommend adding on paper squares that you can use as mosaic pieces to make it look more like a Maya or Aztec piece. Or if you are doing this at home, It would be great to actually use mosaic tiles if you have some handy or can purchase them inexpensively.
Maya Myth Comic Strip
This comic strip tells the story of the two Twin Heroes. It is just a fun way to teach sequence of events. There is another use for this project to that would be great for older kids in higher grades. The original posting has the comic strip and then it has you have the students create their own comic strips to tell a myth. This will be too much for my class however since we only have an hour.
Original Posting: http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/instructor/images/Maya/maya_repro.pdf
I have changed up the original posting just a bit to fit my purposes. I have cropped off the “create your own” section and added in cutting lines. But other than that, it’s the same as the original. You can download it here:
Cropped: http://www.mediafire.com/?6ojcq312w93cs43
Calendars
The Maya and Aztec people had a very amazing calendar system. Both had multiple systems that worked together and both had one system that had exactly 365 days and one that had 260 days. Unfortunately I have had much difficulty finding graphics to create the mini-book. I have found 2 sources that will help with this, however they are not free resources, but ones that I bought over the years. Below is PART of a mini-book. To do the entire thing you really need the 2 resources. They can be found at CurrClick.com
The first is from Evan-Moore Publications: History Pockets Ancient civilizations:
http://www.currclick.com/product_info.php?products_id=16086&it=1
The second is from Scholastic Teaching Resources: Maya Aztec Inca:
http://www.currclick.com/product_info.php?products_id=24641&it=1
I’ve made the second wheel for the maya calendar (The Haab Wheel) And I’ve made a cover for the mini-book. For this mini-book I intend to have 3 pieces of cardstock with them stapled together at one end and layered at the other. The words Mayan and Aztec written on the exposed ends.
calendar mini-book: http://www.mediafire.com/?f0a7tr1fc5u29zi
Make a Mayan Codex: The codex is an important piece of Maya History. It includes many of the God’s and much of what their day to day life entailed. Basically, their culture, their history and their future. Not only did the Maya People have a codex, but so did the Aztec People as well. The following project will help illustrate the importance to both cultures.
Original Pages: The original creation was created by the webmaster of LACAMBALAM. They are hand drawn & painted beautifully. They have provided the re-creation for free download. You can see/get the originals here: http://www.angelfire.com/dc/dresdencodex/ There is an explanation page on who some of the god’s are, but the pictures are not showing up and you might be able to decipher who is who by the descriptions. (CLICK the “This is my: Dresden Codex” link to get to the explanations) I have sent an email asking for the links to be fixed, but it may be a while.
This page has many explanations of the different God’s. I have not taken the time to go through each one to see if they are in the codex, but I THINK I have figured out a few of them. . . MAYBE!!!
http://www.mayaexploration.org/pdf/DresdenCodex1-23.pdf
I have taken the originals and adjusted them and created a mini-book for the project folder. You can find the pdf available here: http://www.mediafire.com/?4odcbo7n1648px0 The changes to the originals is merely a smaller size, a cover, a back page with information about the codex. One thing to keep in mind is the Maya People read from right to left. So the first page would be to the right side of the codex, not the left.
Comparing A God
The article on this website does a fantastic job of explaining the similarities and differences of Viracocha, Kukulkan, and Quetzalcoatl. They are in many ways exactly the same god with different names. The following activity will help your student(s) to compare the legends of these 3 Gods.
Original Posting: http://www.cantaremusic.com/stories/viracocha.htm
I used the above website’s information to create a mini-book to tell the three legends.
Mini-books: http://www.mediafire.com/?9r69lkb3r9pncbh
Other Project Idea Sites
Fabulous site with a ton of hands on project ideas. Some of them I would really like to do, but time is not on our side. http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/instructor/Sep04_maya.htm
This is a nice chart that compares 4 different cultures, including the mound builders in the Ohio river valley region. http://www.mce.k12tn.net/indians/blueprint/early_civilizations2.htm
Great site of the Aztec gods: http://www.azteccalendar.com/god/
Resources
These are the books that I have in my cupboards and I will be using them for the “Spines.”
People of the Ancient world Series: The Ancient Maya, The Ancient Inca, The Ancient Aztecs
I have found many books at my local library that are very kid friendly. By taking a look at the call numbers I found them all around: 972.** you should be able to find them easily enough using this number. I looked in our Juvenile section and found quite a few that would work for the age group I am teaching. Take the time to go look at what you have available at your local library and work around those!!
Hands of a child Maya, Inca, and Aztec project pack I am using the following mini-books from Hands of a Child’s Project Pact: Activities: 8 and 18. Keep in mind that this study is merely about the Myths and beliefs only. I do recommend getting this project pack and working through the rest of it as your time permits. It’s a fabulous study and would really fill out all the bits and pieces. Below are some answer cards I created to go with these activities. I would think you could create the minibooks or at least something that would work. I will not provide these, as I am using HOC’s project pack.
Cards for Activity 8: http://www.mediafire.com/?rlcizjw8a4fsydb
Cards for Activity 18: http://www.mediafire.com/?wxsz6g3vvsrfedn
Make an Aztec or Maya Mask
Masks are a large part of both the Mayan and Aztec cultures. They used masks for rituals and ceremonies. The masks represent which ever God or Goddess is being honored. For this project you have a few options. Below is a page that you can print out and color, or cut out small squares in various shades of paper to create a mosaic. You can also do a paper mache art project (Link below) if you have time to spread the project over several days.
Mayan Mask: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/97/bureau/html/screen8.html
I will be using the above link with construction paper cut out in various shades. We will then use either deca pauge or watered down glue. This we will add to a page protector in our project folders.
General Paper Mache mask Directions: http://familycrafts.about.com/od/papermache/a/plmaskcraft.htm
I highly recommend adding on paper squares that you can use as mosaic pieces to make it look more like a Maya or Aztec piece. Or if you are doing this at home, It would be great to actually use mosaic tiles if you have some handy or can purchase them inexpensively.
Maya Myth Comic Strip
This comic strip tells the story of the two Twin Heroes. It is just a fun way to teach sequence of events. There is another use for this project to that would be great for older kids in higher grades. The original posting has the comic strip and then it has you have the students create their own comic strips to tell a myth. This will be too much for my class however since we only have an hour.
Original Posting: http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/instructor/images/Maya/maya_repro.pdf
I have changed up the original posting just a bit to fit my purposes. I have cropped off the “create your own” section and added in cutting lines. But other than that, it’s the same as the original. You can download it here:
Cropped: http://www.mediafire.com/?6ojcq312w93cs43
Calendars
The Maya and Aztec people had a very amazing calendar system. Both had multiple systems that worked together and both had one system that had exactly 365 days and one that had 260 days. Unfortunately I have had much difficulty finding graphics to create the mini-book. I have found 2 sources that will help with this, however they are not free resources, but ones that I bought over the years. Below is PART of a mini-book. To do the entire thing you really need the 2 resources. They can be found at CurrClick.com
The first is from Evan-Moore Publications: History Pockets Ancient civilizations:
http://www.currclick.com/product_info.php?products_id=16086&it=1
The second is from Scholastic Teaching Resources: Maya Aztec Inca:
http://www.currclick.com/product_info.php?products_id=24641&it=1
I’ve made the second wheel for the maya calendar (The Haab Wheel) And I’ve made a cover for the mini-book. For this mini-book I intend to have 3 pieces of cardstock with them stapled together at one end and layered at the other. The words Mayan and Aztec written on the exposed ends.
calendar mini-book: http://www.mediafire.com/?f0a7tr1fc5u29zi
Make a Mayan Codex: The codex is an important piece of Maya History. It includes many of the God’s and much of what their day to day life entailed. Basically, their culture, their history and their future. Not only did the Maya People have a codex, but so did the Aztec People as well. The following project will help illustrate the importance to both cultures.
Original Pages: The original creation was created by the webmaster of LACAMBALAM. They are hand drawn & painted beautifully. They have provided the re-creation for free download. You can see/get the originals here: http://www.angelfire.com/dc/dresdencodex/ There is an explanation page on who some of the god’s are, but the pictures are not showing up and you might be able to decipher who is who by the descriptions. (CLICK the “This is my: Dresden Codex” link to get to the explanations) I have sent an email asking for the links to be fixed, but it may be a while.
This page has many explanations of the different God’s. I have not taken the time to go through each one to see if they are in the codex, but I THINK I have figured out a few of them. . . MAYBE!!!
http://www.mayaexploration.org/pdf/DresdenCodex1-23.pdf
I have taken the originals and adjusted them and created a mini-book for the project folder. You can find the pdf available here: http://www.mediafire.com/?4odcbo7n1648px0 The changes to the originals is merely a smaller size, a cover, a back page with information about the codex. One thing to keep in mind is the Maya People read from right to left. So the first page would be to the right side of the codex, not the left.
Comparing A God
The article on this website does a fantastic job of explaining the similarities and differences of Viracocha, Kukulkan, and Quetzalcoatl. They are in many ways exactly the same god with different names. The following activity will help your student(s) to compare the legends of these 3 Gods.
Original Posting: http://www.cantaremusic.com/stories/viracocha.htm
I used the above website’s information to create a mini-book to tell the three legends.
Mini-books: http://www.mediafire.com/?9r69lkb3r9pncbh
Other Project Idea Sites
Fabulous site with a ton of hands on project ideas. Some of them I would really like to do, but time is not on our side. http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/instructor/Sep04_maya.htm
This is a nice chart that compares 4 different cultures, including the mound builders in the Ohio river valley region. http://www.mce.k12tn.net/indians/blueprint/early_civilizations2.htm
Great site of the Aztec gods: http://www.azteccalendar.com/god/
