1. Meet the aztecs! Ancient Civilizations AOI: Human Ingenuity Week 1, Lesson 1 & 2

2. Key Question Review: What are the characteristics of civilizations? Architecture, Clothing, Tradition, Education, Religion, Social classes, Jobs and Art How are civilizations formed? Civilization are formed when they find safe and hospitable land that is fertile

3. Engineering an Empire: The Aztecs Watch the intro (00:00 – 1:30) What do you predict the story of the Aztecs is going to be about? I think its going to be about How the Aztec civilization began. I think the Aztecs begin by a group of people who were wandering nomads and they found a deserted island and started their way of life.

4. The Myth: How the Aztec Civilization Began Task: Watch the video (1:30 – 5:20) and record the sequence of events. Vocabulary: Legend, Myth, Sacrifice, honor, Lake Texcoco, Tenochtitlan The Princess of a tribe is supposed to get married to someone in another tribe, which is now known as the Aztecs. Instead of getting married, the princess ends up being sacrificed to the god of fertility by the Aztecs. The King of the tribe finds out that the Aztecs sacrificed his daughter because the priest wore he skin while he danced, The king then chased them out and banished them. The Aztecs then went to the lake Texcoco where they found an abandoned island, the leader of the Aztecs had a vision of an Eagle sitting on a cactus eating a snake. He claims that vision came from the gods saying that the little island in front of them was the island for them They called the Island Tecnochtitlan, then they lived in that Island and began the Aztec Civilization.

5. Tell the story! Task: Create your own storybook describing the myth of how the Aztec civilization began. (See handout on Moodle for instructions!) Read these other versions of the myth: http://aztecs.mrdonn.org/place.html http://www.pbs.org/opb/conquistadors/mexico/mexico.htm Think: How are they different? How are they similar? See handout on Moodle for requirements.

6. Bibliography http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/images/reviews/19 0/1174925545_2.jpg http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/images/reviews/19 0/1174925545_2.jpg