Creating Civilizations of
Mexico through Multi-Media
Students love working outside, and creating a fish pond incorporates science
while making the children smile and learn hands-on!
Curriculum/State Standards
The standards are from Ohio’s Academic
Content Standards for Social Studies.
The Benchmarks are for the 6th-8th
grade bands. This project met Indicator
1 in Benchmark D under the Standard
of History. It also met Indicator 1 of
Benchmark A under the Standard of
People in Societies. Indicator 3 of
Benchmark A under the Government
Standard was met. Additionally, the
following Benchmarks and Indicators of
the Social Studies Skills and Methods
were met: Benchmark A – Indicator
1; Benchmark B – Indicator 3; and
Benchmark D – Indicator 7.
Overview
Students explored the civilizations of the
Olmec, Maya, and Aztec using art, books,
the Internet, and texts. They researched
and learned about the societies, religion,
government, and art of each. Students
also did the same for current day Mexico.
They then compiled their learning in
PowerPoint presentations.
Objectives
The students will create a timeline to
show the order of civilizations in Mexico.
The students will locate the civilizations
on a map.
The students will relate contemporary
Mexican culture to influences from the
past.
The students will describe traits that
identified the cultures.
The students will compare and contrast
the cultures and locations of the
civilizations.
The students will create models of art
from each of the civilizations.
The students will create a key using
Mayan numerals and create a math
problem to be solved by a fellow
classmate.
The students will gather and analyze
information on cultural issues including
religion, language, art, government,
agriculture, and contact with other
civilizations.
The students will describe how the
environment affected the regions.
The students will understand that Mexico
is divided into states.
The students will identify trading partners
of Mexico.
The students will explain how citizens
take part in the government and the type
of government.
The students will describe the
relationship between Mexico and the
United States over the years.
The students will compare and contrast
their own culture with that of each
civilization.
The students will plot the history of
Mexico from the time of the arrival of the
Spanish.
The students will work in groups of 7-10
and provide constructive feedback to
each other.
The students will create a PowerPoint
presentation of information.
Materials
chicken wire, plaster of paris, newspaper,
multiple colors of paint, styrofoam
sheets, popsicle sticks, mosaic tiles,
wood, grout, glue, rulers, poster board,
balloon, yarn, sticks, raffia, cord,
needles, red clay, construction paper,
feathers, cardboard, access to computer
with PowerPoint and Internet, resource
THIS WINNING PROJECT IDEA SUBMITTED BY:
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Heather Dick
Woodsfield Elementary School
Woodsfield, OH
6
GRADE LEVEL
6
WEEKS
$448
TOTAL BUDGET
Creating Civilizations of
Mexico through Multi-Media
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books
Readiness Activity
Students read abstracts about
the Olmec, Maya, and Aztec
civilizations from a text. They
also read about the geography of
Mexico.
Strategies/Activities
Procedures:
1. Discuss the basics of the
Olmec civilization, including their
belief that the forces of nature guided their religion
and their artwork. Students will
look at pictures of artifacts from
the Olmec civilization. Each
student will create either a “baby
face” sculpture or vessel based
on their knowledge of Olmec
art. Students will use selfhardening red clay to simulate
the terra cotta that was used
by the Olmecs. Students will
practice oral presentation skills
by presenting their pieces to the
class.
2. Discuss basics of the Mayan
civilization, including where it
began and how they borrowed
from the Olmecs. Students will
learn that the Mayans had a
system of hieroglyphics used
for writing. To incorporate
math, students will learn about
the Maya numeral system. A
discussion of the importance
of their inclusion of a symbol
for zero will also be discussed.
Students will create a simple
math problem using the Mayan
symbols for someone to solve
and will check for correctness.
3. Students will receive a brief
overview of the Aztec civilization,
including time period and the
importance of the market at
Tenochtitlan. They will also use
their knowledge of previous
cultures to compare the Aztecs
to the Olmecs and Mayans. Each
student will create a replica of an
Aztec shield. Students will view
samples of shields in books and
on the Internet. To incorporate
math, a discussion of radius and
diameter of circles will take place.
Students will learn how to use
a compass to create a circle for
the shape of their shields. The
students will learn about the
art of Aztec basket making and
formulate hypotheses as to what
they may have used them for.
Each student will then create a
raffia basket.
4. After learning about each
civilization, the students will
create a timeline and correctly
place all civilizations on the
timeline including the time period
and map outlining the areas in
which each civilization lived.
5. Students will learn about
the Spanish conquest of
Mexico. They will learn that
Hernando Cortes led the Spanish
exploration. They will discuss
ways that the Spanish influenced
Mexican culture, including
language and religion. Students
will learn that there are still native
people living in Mexico as well as
mestizos, people of Spanish and
native decent. They will learn
about the geography of the land
and their economy. Students
will realize that many people still
practice crafts from native eras,
including weaving. Each student
will create a weaving of his or her
own to display.
6. Students will break into four
groups. Seven people will be in
three groups studying one of the
following: Olmec, Maya, or Aztec.
Ten people will be in the current
day Mexico group. The students
will work as a group to create
an art project for each era. The
Olmec group will make a replica
of a Colossal Head using chicken
wire, paper mache material, and
paint. The Maya group will make
a replica of El Castillo at Chichen
Itza using styrofoam sheets,
popsicle sticks, and paint. The
Aztec group will create a mosaic
using wood as a base, mosaic
tiles, grout, and paint for the
background. The group studying
current day Mexico will use
poster board and paint to create
a replica of the flag of Mexico.
They will also use a balloon,
papier maché materials, and paint
to make a piñata.
7. Each student in each group will
be assigned a topic to research.
The Olmec, Maya, and Aztec
groups will research the Time
Period and Area, Agriculture
and Communication, Society
and Government, Art, Religion,
Group Art Project, and Cultural
Borrowing and Influence. The
current day Mexico group will
research Geography, Agriculture
and Food, Culture and Society,
Arts, Government, Group Art
Project, Cultural Borrowing and
Influence, Wars and History,
Relationship with the U.S., and
Economy and Trade. Each
student will be assessed based on
a rubric.
Culminating Activity
We had a class fiesta to which
the students invited family and/or
friends of the family to come see
their projects and presentations.
The Power Point presentations
were viewed using a Smart Board
in the classroom. The artwork
was labeled and displayed
around the room. The students
and guests celebrated the
completion of the project with a
taco and Spanish rice lunch.
Evaluation Method
The students were given quizzes
over the information they learned
as a class. The students were
evaluated using a checklist for
the art projects. The students
were evaluated on their research
and presentations using a rubric.
The students were also evaluated
on their ability to locate the
civilizations on a map and place
them on a timeline.