THE AZTECS 6 Research Graphic Organizers and 5 Activities PRINT and EASEL

This research resource (with extra activities) about the Aztecs is designed for use by Social Studies/History teachers to help students organize basic facts about the Aztec peoples and their civilization that flourished in Mesoamerica in the centuries before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors.

The resource includes six organizers and five activities. Answer keys are provided.

The 6 organizers are designed so that students can do general research on each aspect of Aztec civilization. They will need access to books and the Internet to complete each one. I have included some useful websites, as well as books I used to provide information in the Answer Key section. One website in particular (www.aztec-history.com) provides most of the information students would be looking for and is user-friendly. Please check the website out before purchasing this resource to make sure you would be comfortable having your students use it and of course, that it is still accessible online.

The organizers can be used for review, as group activities (or some or all could be assigned to individual students), or could be completed as an independent study. Students may pick and choose, or be assigned one or more topics by you. One organizer could be used to begin a larger project. Each of the six organizers comes with a very detailed answer key.

The organizer topics are, in order:

The Origins of the Aztecs

The Aztecs in the Central Valley of Mexico

The Rise of the Aztecs

Daily Life

Aztec Religion

The Arrival of the Spaniards

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This resource also includes five activities:

1) A compare and contrast graphic organizer: students choose another native American religious system and compare and contrast it to the Aztec religion;

2) Create a Webquest: students make a webquest about the Aztecs consisting of 10 questions for another student to complete;

3) Create a Pinning Board: students find images online or draw their own, representing an aspect of Aztec culture (or general);

4) A True or False activity (this can be used as a quiz): using information from the graphic organizers, students choose the four incorrect statements and supply the correct information (comes with an answer key); and

5) Finding Words within Words: students form words from “Aztec Civilization” - there are a couple of challenging longer words supplied with hints. (An answer key is included for this activity).