Author: hskinner

UKS2 – History – The Maya

Key Knowledge to Learn:

Learn about the Maya civilisation and understand who they were and when and where they lived.
Learn about the religious beliefs and practices of the Maya people and the gods they believed in.
Learn about how the Maya invented and used their calendars and number system .
Identify and use sources of evidence to learn about the Maya cities and some of the people who explored and documented them.
Learn about the Mayan writing system.
Learn about the food the ancient Maya people ate and its religious and cultural significance

Key skills to do:

Words to know and spell (Tier 2 Vocabulary)
Maya / Mayan / Central America / South America / Pyramids	Sculpture / Rainforest / Symbols / Gods / Goddesses	Middle World / Upper World / Under World / Abandoned

Words to understand and spell (Tier 3 Vocabulary)
Civilisation	A human society with well developed government and rules
Drought	A long period of time with little or no rain
Scribes	People trained to write things down for others
Codices	Ancient handwritten texts. / A storm with a violent wind, found in tropical climates
Glyphs	Symbols used for writing
logograms	Symbols used to represent whole words
Syllabograms	Symbols used to represent units of sound (syllables)
Maize	Another word for sweetcorn or corn on the cob
Cacao Beans	Beans that can be roasted and ground and used to make / chocolate

Order events in chronological order.
Use historical sources to learn about an ancient civilisation.
Consider the reliability of historical resources.
Ask and answer questions to help understand more about the Mayans.
Compare an ancient civilisation to that of our own.

Concept check questions. Test yourself:

Where did the Maya live?
What happened to the Maya?
What did the Maya believe in?