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5th grade · Social Studies · Unit 1 of 12

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.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 5.2a; 5.2b; 5.2c · the Maya city-states and the Aztec and Inca empires: their cities, farming, records and the Spanish conquest, and the Mississippian city of Cahokia

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. The Maya used a number system with a symbol for zero.
  2. The Aztec ruled from Tenochtitlan; the Inca built Machu Picchu and asked for mit'a, work as a tax.
  3. Spanish conquest (taking control by force) ended these empires, but millions still speak Quechua and Maya languages today.

Example: Under the Inca mit'a system, what did people do? Mit'a was a kind of tax. People paid it with their work. Answer: worked on public projects for the state

Maya, Aztec & Inca in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 1 of 12 in 5th grade Social Studies, before Exploration & 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: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

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

    The Inca built a huge network of… across the Andes.

    • roads
    • canals
    • railroads

  2. Question 2

    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

  3. Question 3

    Moctezuma II ruled the… when the Spanish arrived.

    • Aztec Empire
    • Maya city of Tikal
    • Inca Empire

  4. Question 4

    Machu Picchu was built by the…

    • Maya
    • Aztec
    • Inca

  5. Question 5

    The Aztec grew crops on floating gardens called…

    • rice paddies
    • chinampas
    • oases
    • terraces

  6. Question 6

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

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

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