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4th grade · Social Studies · Unit 3 of 9

Maya, Aztec & Inca

Empires of the Americas

What your child practices

How the Maya, Aztec (Mexica) and Inca arose, their cities, farming, achievements in mathematics and astronomy, and how the Aztec and Inca empires were defeated by Spain. Maya, Nahua and Quechua peoples are living communities today.

Arizona Academic Standards learning standard: 4.H1.1; 4.H3.1 · the Maya, Aztec and Inca, their cities, governments and ideas

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. The Maya built cities with pyramids and wrote with glyphs. They were skilled in math and astronomy.
  2. The Aztec (Mexica) and Inca built huge empires, which Spain defeated in the 1500s.
  3. Millions of people today still speak Maya languages, Nahuatl and Quechua.

Example: Which empire did the Spanish defeat in Mexico in 1521? The Inca were in South America. The empire in Mexico was the Aztec. Answer: the Aztec Empire

Maya, Aztec & Inca in Arizona

In the Arizona Academic Standards, this is unit 3 of 9 in 4th grade Social Studies, after Civilizations of the Americas and before The Columbian Exchange.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Arizona Department of Education

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Under the Inca labor tax called mit'a, people…

    • served as priests
    • paid in silver coins
    • worked on public projects for the state

  2. Question 2

    The Maya developed a number system that included…

    • no numbers above 10
    • Roman numerals
    • a symbol for zero
    • only even numbers

  3. Question 3

    Books like the Codex Mendoza help historians because…

    • they are about Rome
    • they are written in English
    • they record Aztec life in pictures and words

  4. Question 4

    Tenochtitlan was founded in about…

    • 1325
    • 1776
    • 500

  5. Question 5

    Great Maya city-states such as Tikal were at their height before…

    • about 3000 BCE
    • about 900 CE
    • about 1800 CE

  6. Question 6

    Aztec farmers grew crops on floating gardens called…

    • terraces
    • paddies
    • chinampas

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