Subscribe

5th grade · Social Studies · Unit 4 of 12

Civilizations of the Americas

Olmec, Maya, Aztec, Inca and Mississippian

What your child practices

What makes a civilization (cities, government, job specialization, writing, social classes), city-states and empires, and how the Olmec, Maya, Aztec, Inca, Mississippian and Ancestral Puebloan peoples farmed, built and adapted to their land. Maya, Nahua and Quechua peoples live in these lands today.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 5.2a; 5.2b; 5.2c · the features of civilizations, city-states and empires, and how the Olmec, Maya, Aztec, Inca and Mississippian societies adapted to their environments

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. A civilization has cities, organized government, jobs and often writing.
  2. Olmec (Gulf Coast of Mexico), Maya (rainforest), Aztec (central Mexico), Inca (Andes), Mississippian (river valleys).
  3. Inca stonework fit so tightly no mortar was needed. Many Maya people live in Mexico, Guatemala and Belize today.

Example: Where did the Olmec live? They were one of the earliest civilizations in Mesoamerica. They lived along the Gulf Coast. Answer: the Gulf Coast of Mexico

Civilizations of the Americas in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 4 of 12 in 5th grade Social Studies, after First Peoples of the Americas and before Explorers & Encounters.

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

    Mississippian towns grew along…

    • Arctic ice
    • Rivers such as the Mississippi
    • Mountain glaciers
    • Desert dunes

  2. Question 2

    The Maya wrote using…

    • Glyphs, a kind of picture writing
    • No writing at all
    • Knotted strings only
    • The Latin alphabet

  3. Question 3

    Ancestral Puebloans built cliff dwellings at…

    • Tenochtitlan
    • Machu Picchu
    • Tikal
    • Mesa Verde

  4. Question 4

    Inca builders fitted stones so tightly that…

    • They used only wood
    • No mortar was needed to hold them
    • They needed steel beams
    • The walls fell down easily

  5. Question 5

    The Mississippian peoples built…

    • Large earthen mounds
    • Castles
    • Igloos
    • Stone pyramids with glyphs

  6. Question 6

    How did the Aztec modify their lake environment?

    • They drained the oceans
    • They built chinampas, farm plots raised in shallow water
    • They built dams on the Amazon
    • They cut terraces into glaciers

More 5th grade