Travis Zelinska's CU

The first Americans.
A unit for the study of the first inhabitants and societies of America.

Travis Zelinskas

Academic Setting

My unit is intended for use at Apache Elementary School in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This unit will be used with my fifth grade regular education social studies class. I teach social studies as a part of my reading curriculum. Social studies is a good area to help construct good reading skills. The students that are at Apache have poor critical thinking and comprehension skills; using social studies as a tool can help to improve some of those reading skills. My average class size is roughly twenty- four students, with two to four of those being inclusion students from special education. The goal of this unit is to help my students gain an understanding of the first populations of America, the difficulty in recovering the past, how these first inhabitants grew to great civilizations, and how this relates to New Mexico.

Apache is a small (340 students) but very diverse school in ethnicity. Its socioeconomic status is more similar than different (which tends to be on the lower middle class). The student population is composed of Anglo, Hispanic, African, Vietnamese, Iraqi, Pakistani, Korean, Navajo, and other Native American groups. Hispanic, Native and Anglo make up the largest part of our population, roughly eighty percent. Apache has seventy –five percent of its students on free or reduced lunch programs. Thirty to forty percent of our student are identified as limited or non-english speakers, and of them, about fifteen percent go outside of class for bilingual education in English. Apache is also a Title I school with approximately thirty-five percent of the school receiving service in this area. We do have a small special education population and a very small gifted population as well.

Context and Background

Social studies has been a curricula area under fire as of the past few years. Low test scores, texts that are too centered on the “white male,” student apathy for what has the potential to be a boring class and even a lack of funding in some colleges and universities are all reasons that social studies has some problems. In a recent Gallup survey nearly seventy percent of graduating seniors could not answer simple social studies questions about America. These questions were from all areas: history, economics, civics, anthropology, and geography. It seems a prevailing attitude of some students is, “why do I need to learn about the past, it is not important. It doesn’t affect me.” An even more troubling scenario is that of educators not deeming social studies important. At my school for example, our reading scores were very low a few years ago, and there was pressure from the administration to bring up the scores. Social studies is a great way to improve those reading skills.

Social studies is going to become an even more important part of APS curricula. With the adoption of new standards, and benchmarks that must be met upon completion of the school year, social studies will no longer get the cold shoulder. Social studies will have to be taught in all classrooms and the students will get the knowledge that they need for future education.

Social studies must not be seen as simply a lecture and note class. It is a hands- on, cross-curricula learning opportunity that will incorporate reading, writing, math, and science. Social studies is a course that can open up learners minds creatively, critically, and even artistically. Social studies is the ultimate course in which one can combine all teaching areas and strategies. It is my responsibility to utilize my best resources, and teaching strengths to meet this challenge. If meeting this challenge means appropriately adjusting our classroom text and activities than so be it. A curriculum that students can find interesting, relevant, and important to their lives is what I’m aiming for.

The students in my classroom as a whole find our social studies curriculum difficult to understand and read. The struggle with some of the concepts and reasons for what has gone on in our past. The diversity of my classroom has much to do with this. Many of my students want to learn, but their difficulty in understanding, or even reading the material, makes my job as presenter and clarifier very important. If I am to bridge the idea of the first inhabitants of the Americas and how it is important to a fifth grade student in Albuquerque, than I must adapt to my students. Using the student’s natural curiosity about the past, my own curiosity about this subject, and the fact that it is part of the APS curriculum, that is how I will develop my unit.

This unit will be a broad study of the last 15,000 years, not a complete study of one area. This unit will simply be used as a model to help explain why people came to America, and how they developed into the Natives we are familiar with. It will also cover early technology, geography, environmental change, and wildlife. This unit will be good place to gain a broad understanding of early Ice Age North America, and some of the great civilizations that arose from it.

The topics that will be covered to understand why people have come to America are: Paleolithic people and migration, Clovis/Folsom people and technology, the Ice Age, development of new cultures, and archeology.

Paleolithic People and Migration

The understanding of early Paleolithic people and who they are is important to the understanding of why and how people would come to America. To understand that, we must figure out where these people came from themselves, and what they were like.

Early hominids began to appear roughly two million years ago in tropical Africa. These early hominids were known as Australopithecus. They walked upright, had a larger brain capacity than apes of that time, and some used tools. These early hominids, probably had no speech, lived in small bands, scavenged for food, and could only survive on the savanna of Africa and maybe some coastal areas near the Indian Ocean.

Roughly 1.5 million years ago Homo erectus showed up in East Africa. This early ancestor to modern man had a larger brain than earlier hominids and were probably capable of higher thought. Homo erectus gets the credit for humanities greatest achievement, the creation of fire. People could now cook food, heat themselves during cold, and even be active at night. Slowly man began to move north.

At about 350,000 years ago archaic Homo sapiens began to take over for Homo erectus. These early people were the most anatomically similar to modern humans, than any earlier people. These early hominids were more diverse than their ancestors. Homo sapiens just didn’t scavenge, but also started to become hunter-gatherers. These people moved father north than their ancestors, but lacked any sort of clothing technology to help them survive extreme cold temperatures.

The most widely diverse and environmentally adapted of premodern man was the Homo neanderthalensis. The Neanderthals were good hunters and gatherers. They used fire for warmth and cooking, had basic speech, and used spears for hunting. These later hominids developed better tools than their ancestors. Neanderthals began using flint to tip their spears or darts. These new tools “ may also signal enhanced intellectual abilities, abilities that led the Neanderthals to bury their dead” (Fagan 69). This might seem like an unimportant piece of data, but this ritual shows that Neanderthals were very capable of higher thinking skills, and probably believed in an afterlife. Neanderthals were much more primitive than modern humans, but did have a language system and were able to communicate with each other. The use of rock shelters, caves, and possibly skin tents allowed our later ancestor to live in latitudes much farther north than ever before. In fact, “20,000 years before fully modern humans appeared in the Old World about 40,000 years ago, scattered Neanderthal hunting bands were venturing onto the frigid, windswept plains that stretched without interruption from the gates of central Europe right into Siberia” (Fagan 70).

Around 100,000 years ago a significant era of humanity began. Homo sapiens sapiens, fully modern man appeared suddenly in Africa, and vast parts of Asia. These new beings basically took control of areas that previously were dominated by Neanderthal, and by 35,000 years ago Neanderthal became extinct. Homo sapiens sapiens replaced or absorbed Neanderthal in the process. How Homo sapiens sapiens appeared so fast is unknown. What is known is that gradual improvements in tool making techniques that can be seen in later Neanderthal sites may have played a role, in giving a selective behavioral advantage to the less robust and more adaptable Homo sapiens sapiens (Fagan 73). Human culture was now becoming more complex. Fantastic tools, sewn clothes, art, and ceremonial rituals were now the norm. Movement to unknown places was not far behind. Roughly 35,000 years ago migrants from Southeast Asia populated Australia. Even at the Pacific’s low point, a fifty-five mile journey by sea lay ahead of those first inhabitants. It took less than 20,000 years for the entire continent to be populated.

How then did Homo sapiens sapiens get to the Americas? About 25,000 years ago Mammoth hunters began to hunt and settle in the plains of modern day Ukraine. Bands of hunters would hunt Mammoth and bison in small bands. Over time these bands spread out into Central Asia and Siberia. By 20,000 years ago these bands had reached northeastern Siberia, and were on the threshold of the Americas. It is possible that these people began to settle America by boat before the Ice Age, and by foot, and boat during the Ice Age. The doors to the Americas were now open for the settlement by people.

The Ice Age

The last Ice Age was a period of several cool and warm cycles. The last Ice Age began roughly two million years ago and ended about 10,000 years ago (Boehm, Hoone,McGowen, Browning and Miramontes 38). Huge glaciers ruled the landscape on many continents. Ocean levels were almost 300 feet lower than today. Low ocean levels opened up the area between modern day Alaska and Siberia.

Beringia was not two landmasses separated by a watery strait, but a diverse, lowlying plain that connected and enormous arctic continent (Fagan 104). This landmass was exposed and covered at various times during the last Ice Age, 75,000 to 45,000 years ago (Happy Interval), and then 25,000 to 14,000 years ago (Duvanny Yar Interval).

With people settled on the eastern edge of Asia during this time, it is safe to assume that they peered over the Bering Strait in times of water cover and aridity. It is also safe to conclude that large Ice Age animals were present at this locale, and were for quite some time too. Beringia had enough vegetation to feed a variety of now extinct animals, the woolly mammoth, steppe bison, wild horse, reindeer, and smaller mammals as well. At some point the early hunters that were gathered on the eastern edge of Asia, began to hunt their way across the land bridge.

By about 13,000 years ago the early hunters reached the west coast of present day Alaska. The large glacier that blocked their movement into the new world was slowly releasing its contents back into the environment flooding the land bridge. The environment was now beginning to warm up, and with it the slow beginning of the end of the large animals of that time.

The initial colonization along the continental margins of the Americas may have occurred rather quickly, subsequent colonization of the interior environments may have occurred more slowly (Dixon 250). The expansion of the human populations into America may have happened as many as three times before the end of the Ice Age. The movement was initially by skin boat down the coast of America sometime around 12,000 years ago. These early peoples moved inland very quickly after their migration down the coast of this new continent. By 11,500 years ago, hunter-gatherer people were in the Southwest and Great Plains of America.

Clovis/Folsom people

Near the end of the last Ice Age bands of hunter-gatherer people were spread over the new grasslands of America. These hunter bands spread to both coats of America but settled as far south as Guadalajara, and maybe even South America. The bands were constantly on the move, following migrating game (Fagan 178).

Clovis people were excellent hunters and gatherers. The hunted bison, mammoth, horse, camel, bear, and rabbit. They collected wild vegetables and were extremely opportunistic when it came right down to it. The Clovis people used a large variety of tools and weapons like the atlatl. Clovis stoneworkers were experts at their craft. They frequently selected the finest of exotic materials from which to fashion beautiful points. Clovis stone technology was based in part on precious, fine-grained rock that came from widely separated outcrops (Fagan 182). Clovis points were large worked rock tips that acted as points to their spears and darts. These points were roughly 6 inches in length and bound to the end of the wooden shaft. This new technology could easily penetrate the tough hide of large animals.

The Clovis people lasted on the Great Plains for roughly 500 years. The disappearance is a mystery but coincides with the mass extinction of all big-game animals. With changing weather patterns, animals slow to adapt to their new environment, and large amounts of big game hunting all combined to cause the extinction of most large mammals in a few centuries.

Bison were the only large mammal left for the hunter societies post-Clovis. The bison had adapted to the short grasses that flourished after the last glaciation, and by 10,500 years ago they were the dominant large mammal of the Great Plains.

Bison hunters in the post Ice-Age were spread wide and far across the continent. Like their predecessors they used sharpened stone points (fluted) on the end of their spears, and darts. These worked points were part of the bison hunter’s tool kit. These worked points could be redone if broken and reused to hunt again. These hunters used points with names like Folsom, Hells Gap, and Scottsbluff. There are several different forms of these points.

Bison hunters used an ambush technique to hunt their bison. The hunters would camp near the bison herd and get themselves acclimated with their surroundings. The hunters would then get the herd to either get into arroyo or they would simply scare them to stampede over a cliff. When the hunters got them into the arroyo they could slowly and methodically kill the bison at will. When the kill was done, the hunter and families could then come down and slaughter the animals at will.

Development of new cultures

The changing climate after the Ice Age set the stage for rapid human advancement across the North American continent. Temperate forests, grasslands, and other biomes that are similar to today were taking hold. By 5000 years ago environmental conditions were becoming conducive to population growth and expansion. In fact, the increased number of archeological sites that dates to this time helps to support that thesis. With the extinction of large Ice Age mammals occurring at this time, a change in diet also occurred. People were now hunting smaller game animals, fish, gathering nuts, shellfish and other plants as subsistence. The intensive foraging lifestyle started about 9,000 years ago and lasted until about 4,500 years ago. Seasonal settlements and mobility were still part of the Holocene lifestyle of natives. Bands that would only come together during certain parts of the year were now staying together longer, and forming larger groups. Slowly, farming went from being a resource that was limited in its usage to one that eventually became a lifestyle.

Early farming “required considerable energy to harvest and prepare, and contained limited nutritional value” (Fagan 241). These early plots were a good way to have a little extra during the months when food was scarce. While the able bodied were out gathering, children, elderly, and those left at camp were in charge of these small farms. Storage of these extra food sources, grown and gathered, led societies to come up with elaborate storage techniques for their goods. During this time of increased agriculture, trade between groups was becoming commonplace. Not only did it help to make up for food shortages, but also helped to join smaller communities into larger ones. Greater societies that started out as trading partners were now intricate communities. These communities were to be known as the mound builders. These different societies settled in the Ohio River valley from 1,000 BP to about 700 years ago.

With more emphasis on these communities, came more emphasis on status. Artisans and political and spiritual figures came to be some of the most important figures in these early societies. The importance of these people was shown by the elaborate burials that many of these individuals had. The body was covered with a red dye to make it look lifelike, and the body was buried with important objects for the afterlife. The exotic artifacts, buried with the deceased, contained lots of significance to these people. When these important people were buried, they were buried inside giant earthworks.

In the Midwest, a large society with much interaction between the different villages came to be known as the Hopewell. The Hopewell culture lasted for 600 years, and appeared about 2,400 years ago. This society, like the previous mound builders, placed much emphasis on trade between different groups, and the burial of important people in large mounds.

The greatest of the mound builders was the Mississippians. The Mississippians began to emerge in the Mississippi river valley about AD 700-800. These people lived in many cities and towns. They built huge mounds with large temples atop of them. “ The largest city was near East St. Louis stands today” (Hoone, McGowen, McKinney and Miramontes 57). Anywhere from 10,000-40,000 people might have lived in this great city surrounded by close to a hundred mounds. Like its predecessors, by about AD 1500 this society was in decline. With the influx of European explorers came disease. These unnatural diseases took their toll on this and other native groups.

With the advent of bigger communities and more prosperous farms, native culture spread to every ecosystem on the American continents. The Southwest was no exception. A highly agrarian society, who depended highly on biannual rainfall and flooding patterns (Fagan 258) to grow their corn, squash, and beans were the Anasazi. The Anasazi are known for their adobe houses called pueblos. These pueblos started out as small pit house, but turned into giant above ground communities like Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon. Chaco canyon was an 800 roomed structure that housed over 1,200 people. “Nearly 5,000 people lived in smaller villages nearby. The villages were connected by paved roads, which also served as trade routes” (Hoone, McGowen, McKiney and Miramontes 56). The pueblos didn’t only serve as housing. The rooms were used in food storage, preparation, and the most important, the kiva, a room for religious rituals. The Anasazi made use of their dry environment. They learned how to conserve what little water they had. They used every available resource that they could. The Anasazi culture took root in about 100 BP and lasted until about AD 1300. Although some groups lasted until the 16^th century when European explorers began their conquest of the new world. Besides European contact the cause for the civilization’s downturn is unknown, but a severe drought might have been one major cause.

Great societies were flourishing not only in North America but in South America as well. Olmecs, Mayans, Aztecs, and Incas were some of the truly great societies that help to create a lively and interesting culture in South America. These civilizations lasted for hundreds of years and helped to influence each other and many other civilizations.

The Olmec civilization started in about 1500 BP and lasted until about AD 300. The Olmecs were one of the oldest civilizations in the Americas. This “mother civilization” influenced many other native cultures. Their extensive trade network spread from Mexico all over the gulf coast. Giant pyramids, beautiful art, a number system, and a calendar are some of the fantastic gifts that this society shared. The Olmecs constructed many temples and pyramids that were used for their everyday religious needs. Powerful priests ruled the society and led the ceremonies. For reasons unknown this society like other great ones disappeared.

Borrowing from this now extinct civilization were the Mayans and the Aztecs. The Mayan culture began to take shape about 500 BP (Hoone, McGowen, McKiney and Miramontes 80). The Mayan took many of the Olmec ideas and took them to greater heights. Paved roads to transport goods and to trade ideas connected hundreds of stone cities. These city-states ruled themselves and were ruled by classes. Like the Olmec before them, the priests were the most powerful and respected group. These leaders not only led the religious ceremonies, but also studied the stars. These careful observations led to the 365 day calendar, and the development of the concept zero. Slavery was widely practiced and farming was the main supplement of the Mayan economy. Corn, beans, and squash were all farmed and traded in the large markets in the towns.

Once a small nomadic band of peoples that gathered food throughout Mexico, the Aztecs soon became one of the most powerful and feared of the great civilizations. Around AD 1200 these nomads settled in the Valley of Mexico on two islands on Lake Texcoco. Learning from the Maya like they from the Olmec, the Aztec developed a society that was hard pressed to be matched in its greatness. The Aztec began conquering other Native people in the nearby areas. “By about AD 1500 the Aztecs ruled 200,000 sq mi and more than five million people” (Hoone, McGowen, Mckiney and Miramontes 83). The Aztecs turned Lake Texcoco into a fertile area that was good for farming. Canals and paved roads connected the plots of farmland. Giant temples rose in the cities to honor the Aztec gods. The Aztec empire soon met its end when Europeans came across the Atlantic looking for gold. Diseases foreign to the Native people of the Americas soon decimated the Aztec population.

Archeology

How do scientists know so much about something that happened a long time ago? Scientists use many different clues, human characteristics, and theories to help them uncover the past. These clues help them piece together the plethora of information that will become our historical past.

Some of the first clues that scientists use are the remnants of past people. Pottery shards, fluted points, animal bones, skeletons, and camp remains can all be used to help identify people and when they lived. Using carbon 14 dating is one way. A piece of the material is sent to away to be dated, using a technique that reads the molecules in the material. The dates can be accurate if the material has not been contaminated by outside forces. Water and animals are major causes for this kind of contamination.

Another way to tell the age of something is to relate it to the surrounding rocks and dirt. Reading the material around the site can give scientists a decent age date for the site. This stratagraphic reading can be very reliable in giving you a good cross-reference to date with carbon dating. Using the information of the site, along with a skeleton, you can many times get a reliable date for the site.

Finally, subtle skeletal differences can help scientists get a rough idea if it is modern or an archaic skeleton. These differences can be as small as a tooth, or as large as a skull. Precise measurements and skeletal details can give these scientists the information that they need to make their theories. This track of science is known as Bioanthropology.

Archeology is a track of science that is always changing its mind. Sometimes, ideas that were held as truths must be completely changed because of new information. It is definitely a field of science that must be willing to change after new information is proved as truth.

Implementation

The lessons that follow here will need some adjustment depending on location and proximity to archeological sites, although access to sites is not always required. Each lesson is also adjustable depending on class and teacher. The standards that I have used for the implementation of my lessons comes from the state of New Mexico. The site that I used was the State Department of Education (http://sde.state.nm.us).

There will be many key vocabulary terms that will be brought up during this lesson. I plan on creating a specific social studies world wall that will be posted in the room. Learners can refer to the wall after new or known vocabulary is presented to them. Learners then will be able to utilize the wall for writing assignments and for their daily assignments if needed. The vocabulary that will be covered is:

Migration	Maize	Gatherer	Drought
Glacier	Atlatl	Mammoth	Kiva
Band	Tribe	Civilization	Empire
Nomad	Surplus	Temple	Slavery
Theory	Specialize	Pyramid	Paleolithic
Artifact	Extinct	Pueblo	Kennewick
Archeologist	Agriculture	Adobe	Pleistocene
Ice Age	Hunter	Mesa	Inter-glacial

This introduction will build on prior knowledge of students on this subject. I will introduce terms: migration, glacier, band, nomad, theory, artifact, archeologist, and Ice age. The students will be working in small groups to come up with student specific definitions for each word. Students will use two different resources to gain their information. Students will then collaborate and present their definitions to the class. The class will then make a specialized word wall containing these social studies words.

This lesson will begin to build students understanding of the Ice Age. I will begin the lesson by reading the book, The Great Ice Age by Christopher Maynard. This will start our discussion on the Ice Age. Bringing to light important facts like: causes, effects, climate, animals, and people during this time. This discussion is supposed to open the door to student’s curiosity on the subject.

The idea of this lesson is to watch the Disney movie Ice Age and to compare and contrast the “Hollywood” version with the information that I’ve given them so far about the Ice Age. Students will be required to jot notes down about differences that they notice between the two. We will then discuss the movie and the facts. How and why they are different than the facts?

This lesson is to focus on one of the great Ice Age mammals, the mammoth. We will start the lesson with a KWL chart. The students will watch the video, Raising the Mammoth, Discovery Video, March of 2000. Students will take notes and gain an understanding of the woolly mammoth. We will then finish filling out our KWL chart and write a friendly letter to family member on what we learned.

This lesson will focus on the lifestyle of Ice Age people. This lesson will bring to light how people survived during the Ice Age, how they lived, what they lived off of, how they hunted, what they gathered. This lesson will contain vital information on what led people to begin their movement to America. The idea of this lesson is show how people evolved into hunter-gatherer societies and how that led people to move.

This lesson will introduce the term “theory,” and talk about how archeologists come up with theirs concerning the migration of early peoples. This lesson will contain important evidence about artifacts that were left behind by these early people at sites in Alaska and Canada and the United States. The sites will include: Old Crow, Dry Creek, Bluefish Cave, Owl Cave, Meadowcroft Rockshelter, Clovis, and Spirit Cave. Students will discuss the theories of the water crossing and the land crossing following the mammals and debate the theory of how people got here. We will discuss the migration of the Ice Age animals, and life on Beringia. I will pass out maps that have Beringia connecting Asia and North America. Students will then label continents, oceans, compass rose, trace routes of hunter bands, and answer questions concerning the subject of the crossing. Students will then write a paragraph to tell how they think the Paleolithic people made their way into the American continents.

Students will be split into groups of 4-6 to compose a song telling the story of Beringia and the bands of hunters who crossed it. Students will then perform their song in front of the class. Students who know how to play a musical instrument may play with their group.

The students will begin to put together a timeline containing important facts of the Ice Age: Appearance of humans, migration of people over Beringia, and settlement of Northern America. This timeline will be used throughout the unit, and will need to be updated on a regular basis.

The lesson on Ancient Natives will begin by introducing new terms that will be added to our social studies word wall. Technology, Extinct, Agriculture, Surplus, Clovis point, Atlatl, and Specialize. Like in the lesson before, students will again break into groups and look up the words using two sources. The students will then present their definitions to the class.

The lesson will be hard to do if you do not have access to an Atlatl. Apache has an aluminum atlatl with a rubber tip that can be used under adult supervision. Students will learn first about the use of the weapon. Why it was invented? How it was made? Then the students will see a demonstration of the weapon. Students will then note and determine the major muscles that were used when throwing. As a group we will then chart them to see if we can determine if throwing atlatl is like throwing a football, baseball, or Frisbee. Students will then take turns having an opportunity throwing the weapon.

Students will choose a favorite or fantasy vacation in the United States. On outlined maps they have drawn, they will draw routes they might use if they had to walk to their destinations. They students will have to consider natural barriers like: mountains, lakes, rivers, and deserts. The students will then write a description of the route. It must include both cardinal and intermediate directions.

The field trip that we will take will take us to the archeological sight in Tijeras New Mexico. The dig of a small pueblo in Tijeras canyon will give the students an idea of what ancient civilizations were like. Students will get a hands-on example of early life in New Mexico. Students will keep a journal of the experience, noting important facts, and things that were learned on the field trip. The students and I will then debrief at the end of the day on what information was new and what information was confirmed by the field trip.

This book will be read aloud to the class. The story talks about the Pueblo natives before the arrival of Europeans. Students will be quizzed at the end of the story on important facts. It will be a comprehension check of the students on information that the students would have gotten from the text that was read to them.

This lesson will be an in-depth discussion of the native people of the Southwest. Students will be introduced to key terms: pueblos, adobe, mesa, kiva, and maize. The students will again look up the words with a partner in two different resources. The students will then report to the class with their definitions.

This lesson will be an art lesson with the students building a clay model that is to model the adobe dwellings or kivas that the Anasazi used. The students will paint and decorate their clay model. Students will be graded on accuracy and detail of their model.

This lesson will incorporate a resource that is readily available to our school. Apache has a large population of Native Americans that include Navajo. We will get a speaker to come into the class to speak of the Pueblo lifestyle. Students will conduct a question and answer session with our Native American speaker.

Students will choose from one of the tribes of the Southwest: Zuni, Hopi, Navajo, and Apache. The students will then write a detailed report using 6-trait writing skills. The reports should include: homes, religious beliefs, food, clothing, crafts, games, family roles, tools, and daily life.

This lesson is to introduce the great civilizations in South America: the Olmecs, Mayas and the Aztecs. Key vocabulary that will have to be researched and added to the word wall will include: civilization, temple, pyramid, empire, class, and city-state. Students will then get a mini-lesson on each of the civilizations. Students will be required to take notes, draw diagrams, and discuss each of the civilizations.

Students will plot the phases of the moon over a month. Students will diagram nightly the moon’s phase. Student will then speculate how the Mayans might have used the moon’s phases as and information resource. While students are charting the moon on their own, as a class we will plot the movement of the sun over a day for the course of one month. We will take readings every four hours. We will construct simple sundials to assist us in our readings. As a group we will come together and theorize how these celestial bodies could have assisted the Mayans in making their calendar and how they planned their life.

Students will use butcher paper and design what they think Tenochtitlan might have looked like 700 years ago when it was a thriving metropolis. When the artwork is finished students will then need to research the city of Tenochtitlan. Student research can come from a variety of resources. We will locate some information together on the National Geographic web page. Students will also need to go the library to research the capital city of the Aztec Empire.

Students will add to the time line the great civilizations that were discussed in the unit. Anasazi, Olmec, Maya, and Aztec. We will include such facts as rise to power, duration of existence, and major events that took place with the civilization.

The assessment of the students will be ongoing with anecdotal records and work samples. One final comprehensive test made by the teacher covering the major facts of the unit will assist in directing a final grade that will be given to the students.

Documentation

Dixon, James E. Bones Boats & Bison. Albuquerque: The University of New Mexico Press, 1999.

Fagan, Brian M. The Great Journey: The peopling of the Ancient America. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd., 1987.

Social Studies text. America’s Story vol. 1. New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1997.

Diamond, Jared. “The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race.” Discover Magazine 27 May. 1987: 64-66.