Ancient Mayan Civ.: Geo, Agriculture, Architecture and Social Structure

Lessons from Mesoamerica on farming and architecture in a rain forest using only stone-age tools. This 90-slide power point presentation vividly illustrates the problems of living in a hostile environment and solutions the ancient Mayans adopted to survive and thrive in the tropics.

How did Stone Age peoples manage over 100 inches of rain a year? How did they grow enough food to feed entire cities in a rain forest? What did they use to construct buildings that did not rot or mildew and are still standing 2,000 years later?

The setting for any civilization determines the types of adaptations the people will need to make in order to survive and thrive. The Maya were located in the tropics between the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. The land was a jungle and the climate featured a season of torrential rain. How did they deal with all that water? Did their adaptations help or destroy their civilization? This presentation gets the students thinking about why it is important to live in harmony with Mother Nature.

Multiple discussions and writing opportunities are built into the presentation. This entire presentation is a subsection of an in depth 340 slide thematic PowerPoint Unit presentation on Mesoamerican Civilization Thematic Unit PowerPoint Presentation with 300 slides of presenter’s notes. It covers the Olmec, Maya and the Aztec civilizations and is available for purchase on this site.

Included:

2 PowerPoint Shows

-1 with History and ELA Common Core Standards for Literacy in History

-1 without History and ELA Common Core Standards for Literacy in History

1 PDF of the presentation

1 PDF of the Presenter's notes

Product format:

PowerPoint Show made in Microsoft 10

Features include: slide sorter, laser pointer, digital pen, high lighter, and presenter’s notes. This makes it possible to add or highlight notes directly onto the slides. It is possible to check out these features on the preview, by right clicking on the screen. A tool box will appear so that you can experiment with the various tools.

*Due to copyright piracy, all of Ms. Amy’s Lessons are not editable. This means that it is both difficult and time consuming to alter the presentations.

Topics:

Geography, agriculture, architecture and social structure

Contents:

90 slides

90 presenter’s notes

8 vocabulary slides

agriculture, maize, Three Sisters, slash-and-burn, terrace, sacbe, tumpline, palanquin

5 maps

10 review questions with answers

4 discussions

4 types of graphic organizers

Venn Diagram, Brainstorming Map, T chart, Pyramid

3 writing opportunities

4 Interactive child friendly web sites on the ancient Mayan Civilization

2 pages of links and video suggestions

Common Core Standards:

RI 7.1; SL 7.1; SL 7.2;RH 6-8.4; RH 6-8.7; WHST 6-8.1; WHST 6-8.10

To see if this presentation will meet your needs please check out the free excerpt from this presentation. Maya Beauty Secrets

Duration:

2 -3 class periods

Other Mesoamerican civilization presentations available from Ms. Amy's Lessons :

Olmec Civilization PowerPoint Show

Mayan History PowerPoint Presentation

The Aztec Civilization PowerPoint Show

The Prehistory of Mesoamerica PowerPoint Presentation

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© 2014 Ms. Amy's Lessons Revised in 2021 and 2022. This purchase is for you and your classroom. Duplication for an entire school, an entire school system, or for commercial purposes is strictly forbidden. Please have other teachers purchase their own copy. If you are a school or district interested in purchasing several licenses, please contact me for a district-wide quote.