Amplify Grade 1 CKLA Knowledge Domain 5: Early American Civilizations Celebration Ideas

The next part is Domain 5 in our Amplify Knowledge series, Early American Civilizations! This unit closely examines the Maya, Aztec and Inca civilizations.

My students always enjoy learning about these 3 civilizations. It ties in so well with Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, so they don't have to switch their train of thinking too much. 

I tried 2 new things last year: making our own chinampas and Inca weaving. The chinampas were a success - but the weaving was a bit tricky. I am looking forward to trying both again this year, and I'll add updates when we do!

Civilization Chart

I love using the image cards to create a growing civilization chart throughout this unit. 

They are a great reference tool when my students are writing, and creating their own civilization books!

This year my students made a civilization book along with me, and this wall was a great reference tool for them.

The Civilization book comes with 3 styles, to allow for more writing space if your students are ready. 

I chose the option where all the civilizations are on one page. This allowed my students to better see the similarities between the Maya, Aztec and Inca.

I also included Venn diagrams to help analyze 2, or all 3, of the civilizations, as well as writing templates for daily writing.

Click here for a closer look at this resource!

Google Earth and Ambience

Click here to download a free copy of this file, which includes Google Earth locations, music, website and more for all 3 civilizations.

I also hung up this gorgeous Machu Picchu backdrop throughout the unit - my students and I love this one!

Click here to see all the backdrops I use throughout the year to add some fun to our Knowledge units!

Chinampas

My students are always fascinated by the concept of the floating gardens, so we tried to create our own last year. I couldn't find any samples online, so this was our first attempt - and it was fairly successful!

Each table had a tray to hold their chinampas. They made the raft with a partner using popsicle sticks, and tacky glue. 

 

We didn't have a clear plan, so it was interesting seeing how they decided to create their raft. We did google a lot of pictures of rafts to help them understand how they float. 

 

This year I made it a 2 day project, as last years rafts fell apart a bit in the water. Letting them dry overnight helped a lot this year. 

Then they placed some soil on their raft, added a sprinkle of radish seeds and we were ready to add water!

We are fortunate enough to have a 4 big windows and a lot of light, so they grew nicely! We kept them out for about a month, and my class loved watching them grow. 

                      

The best part is since this unit takes place in late January for us, and NH is lacking in plant life then. These added some lovely life to our room!

Each table would take turns watering the trays each day. They were amazed at how they really floated, and that you never had to water the tops, as they water moves through the bottom as intended!

    

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Maya Sculptures

First we made our own salt dough:

Ingredients

2 cups of all purpose flour
1 cup salt
1 cup water

They loved measuring the ingredients, adding the water and kneading it. The gallon baggies helped cut down on the mess a lot. It also helped us store the dough easily.

Creating the sculptures was a lot of fun! 

Some students used toothpicks to add details to their creations.

After they were done, we let them dry for a few days before painting.

Last year used washable paints, but they went on a bit too heavy, and darker than we liked.

This year, we used  water colors and they were able to add more details, or make it look ancient if they preferred.

                                                              

                         

 I will definitely used water colors again next year!

Inca Weaving

Last year I made cardboard Inca weaving looms, but it was too flimsy for my students. 

                               

                                           

So this year I bought these, and it went so much better!

        

                          

These yarns and needles were perfect, and these looms this year are worth the price.

                                               

My students enjoyed it so much that we saved their weavings for indoor recess days - which we had A LOT of this year!

Books

My students love the photos in all of these books, and they make wonderful afternoon read alouds too!

Ancient Civilizations for Kids

Aztec History for Kids

Archaeology for Kids

DK Eyewitness Aztec, Inca and Maya

The Inca Empire for Kids

Maya History for Kids

Aztecs, Incas & Mayans

Ancient Civilizations: Aztecs, Maya, Incas!

Aztecs, Incas, and Mayans for Children

DK Find Out! Maya, Incas, and Aztecs

The Inca Empire A True Book: Ancient Civilizations

Finding coloring pages was hard for this unit, but this book has some amazing pictures that my students loved!

Aztec Designs Coloring Book

Machu Picchu Site

My class loved exploring this website that has an interactive tour of all the places on Machu Picchu.

It even has live cameras, which they found so interesting! 

We used it again on our celebration day - I had it up on our ClearTouch screen and they could explore wherever they liked!

Build a Temple

I always like to have a hands on celebration station, so they can get their creative side on! I put out all our building materials so they could create temples, Machu Picchu, palaces and more!

They really loved all of these activities, and I am looking forward to trying them all again this year. I hope you found some inspiration! 

Don't miss the other posts in this series!

• Amplify Grade 1 Knowledge Domain 1: Fables and Stories - Celebration Ideas
• Amplify Grade 1 Knowledge Domain 2: The Human Body - Celebration Ideas
• Amplify Grade 1 Knowledge Domain 3: Different Lands, Similar Stories
• Amplify Grade 1 Knowledge Domain 4: Early World Civilizations 
• Amplify Grade 1 Knowledge Domain 5: Early American Civilizations Celebration Ideas 
• Amplify Grade 1 Knowledge Domain 6: Astronomy
• Amplify Grade 1 Knowledge Domain 7: History of the Earth Celebration Ideas
• Amplify Grade 1 Knowledge Domain 8: Animals and Habitats Celebration Ideas
• Amplify Grade 1 CKLA Knowledge Domain 9: Fairy Tales Celebration Ideas
• Amplify Grade 1 CKLA Knowledge Domain 10  American Independence: A New Nation and Domain 11 Frontier Explorers Activities