EE 314: Instructional Unit Plan Design 1 | Page

UNIT TITLE: AZTEC

Instructional Unit Authors: Braden Reddick, Reese Bacon, Robin Berger, Alyssa Addington

Figure 1: Roos, Dave. “How the Aztec Empire Was Forged through a Triple Alliance.” HISTORY, 24 Feb. 2021, www.history.com/news/aztec-empire-triple-alliance.
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KSDE Content Knowledge Addressed in Unit

Start by locating your unit topic in the KSDE Social Studies Standard Scope and Sequence. What ideas could be addressed in your unit? What
competencies could you potentially incorporate into skill instruction?

Next, identify additional terms (who, what, when, where) about your unit that you can incorporate into your unit. What terms go together? Sort and
label them into working categories that can be taught together.

Use the following categories: geography, government, religion, social structure, language & tech, arts & culture, fall of civ. You should aim for two or
three terms per category.

Term Definition (in grade-level appropriate language) Category // Theme // Topic

Nomadic Living the life of a nomad; wandering Geography
The ruler of great power and rank, especially one Government
Emperor
controlling an empire.
The area extending approximately from central Mexico Geography
Mesoamerica
to Honduras and Nicaragua
A group of states or countries under one supreme Government
Empire
authority, especially an emperor or empress.
The activity of buying and selling, especially on a large Government
Commerce
scale.
Canoe special boats used to transport materials and people language & tech
structures used to lead water through or towards an language and tech
aqueducts
area without much or any water
Turquoise greenish-blue gemstone with brown spots arts and culture
conquistador a leader in a war arts and culture
maize another word for corn arts and culture
Ran the government, owned the land, slaves and social structure
Nobles
servants.
Commoners Consisted of farmers, merchants and low-level priests. social structure
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Worked in the land that was owned by the nobles that social structure
Serfs
did not live in the heart of the city.
Individuals that were previously serfs, but due to Social structure
Slaves
punishment for crimes or tributes, became slaves.
Polytheistic The belief in more than one god Religion
To surrender a being as a means of gaining something Religion
Sacrifice
or preventing evil.
A condition in a living body that impairs normal Fall of Civ.
Disease
functioning.
Battle in the (then) most powerful Estate of Ancient Fall of Civ.
Battle of
Mexico. Aztecs fell to Spanish Conquistador Hernan
Tenochtitlan
Cortes

Unit Description
Students will focus on Aztec culture and begin to understand what makes up the foundation of the empire.
This relates with other units because we will be focusing on other ancient civilizations. The major takeaways
students will make during the year will be how ancient civilizations lived and their basic culture. Students will
begin to understand why the civilization was torn down after taking so long to build up. The student will
practice and work through different governments, hierarchies, social statuses, and more.

KSDE Focus Standard and Benchmark (Skill) for Unit

Standard: Standard 3: Societies are shaped by identities, beliefs, and practices of individuals and groups.
Benchmark 3.2: The student will analyze context and draw conclusions of how societies are shaped
Benchmark:
by the identities, beliefs, and practices of individuals and groups.
We chose this standard because it requires the students to draw conclusions and analyze context.
Justification:
They align by focusing on identities, beliefs, and practices of individuals and groups.
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The student will be drawing conclusions and answering exit tickets throughout the unit in order to
reach the objective.

Unit Assessment and Evaluations

[Summative] How will you assess the skill
(standard and benchmark) and content
at the end of the unit?
[Formative] How will you check student
understanding of skills and content
during the unit?
* Skill denotes the benchmark identified at the start of the unit for practice. Refer back to your Standard and Benchmark, page 1.
The student will create their own civilization with details about their geography, government, religion,
social structure, language & tech, and arts & culture. Their civilization will need to consist of different
examples practiced during this era, to receive credit. The examples could include different religious
practices, different art concepts seen throughout the Aztec Empire.
As a formative assessment the teacher will hand out an exit ticket that needs to be turned in at the end
of class. This exit ticket will consist of the different topics covered throughout the unit. Each topic will
need to have at least one example practiced in this era, to complete the exit ticket.

Previous and Subsequent Unit Alignment; Interdisciplinary Connections

This unit aligns with the other KSDE Social Studies standards by allowing students to
How does your unit align with others in the KSDE Social
understand that the choices the Aztec Empire made ended with consequences. Each
Studies Standards? What connections can you make
person that was a part of the Aztec Empire had rights and responsibilities, whether they
between your unit and the other topics from the same
had very few rights or many rights. Throughout the era of the Aztec Empire, there was
grade level?
always change happening and adjustments happening due to the change.
To integrate this topic for reading, the class could read a book about this time period or a
How do the content and skills addressed in this unit
book that was set in that time period. For science, students could create their own
align with other subject areas? How could you include
irrigation system for farming, just like the Aztec empire did. For math, the students could
math, science, and ELA in this unit? Be creative.
figure out the dimensions of their civilization or the dimensions of any civilization.
EE 314: Instructional Unit Plan Design
Day Purpose // Phase of Unit
Introduction
1 Check for Prior Knowledge
Establish Relevance
Geography, Location, &
2 Food Supply
3 Government
4 Religion
Social Structure & Life of
5 the Average Citizen
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Unit Pacing Guide and Calendar
Learning Objective Content and Skill Addressed (Summarize and Explain)
For this lesson, we will review the 6 different aspects that
By the end of the lesson, the student will be able
make up an empire. Government, geography, arts, religion,
to identify the 6 different aspects that make up
an empire.
language, and social structure. In the following days, we will
go in more depth about each aspect.
The student will be able to make observations
For this lesson, we will talk about how the location of a
about the location of an empire.
civilization greatly impacts the life of the people living in it.
By the end of the lesson, the student will be able
to draw conclusions about why the Aztec empire
For example, a civilization was founded by a river for better
access to water.
settled where they did.
By the end of the lesson, the student will be able For this lesson, we will talk about the 2 levels of government
to identify the 2 levels of government in the
Aztec empire.
in the Aztec Empire. The two levels are altepetl (states), and
tlatoani (capitol).
By the end of the lesson, the student will be able For this lesson, we will discuss the Aztecs having a
to identify 3 examples of rituals (or worships)
and 2 different Gods that the Aztecs praised.
polytheism background and carrying out worships and
rituals daily.
For this lesson, we will discuss what each social class is and
By the end of the lesson, the student will be able
to identify what each social class consists of.
who they consist of. There are four different social statuses.
(nobles, commoners, serfs, slaves)
EE 314: Instructional Unit Plan Design
Written Language &
6 Technology
7 Arts & Culture
Fall or Decline of
8 Civilization
Bringing it all together;
9 Content AND Skill* Review
Content AND Skill*
10 Summative Assessment
* Skill denotes the benchmark identified at the start of the unit for practice. Refer back to your Standard and Benchmark, page 1.
Modified unit structure from Midgley, H. (2015). https://www.teachlikemidgley.com/lesson-plan-ancient-civilizations.html
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For this lesson, we’ll talk about technology that the Aztecs
By the end of the lesson, TSWBT recall 2 types of
used such as canoes and aqueducts.
technology that the Aztecs used.
By the end of the lesson, TSWBT recall 1
We will also talk about the language of Aztecs: Nahuatl. We
will look at this language and see if we can decode it to
language that the Aztecs use.
understand it.
By the end of the lesson, TSWBT recall 3
For this lesson, we’ll talk about the different art of Aztec.
different works of art the Aztec used.
By the end of the lesson, TSWBT recall 3
Pottery, sculptures, and architecture. We’ll focus on the
buildings that are still standing and the use of artwork.
different cultural ideas from the Aztec.
By the end of the lesson, the student will be able
For this lesson, we will talk about what led to the fall of the
to list 4 different examples of what led to the fall
of the Aztecs. (e.g. smallpox, Spanish
Ancient Aztec society. We will be focusing on the Battle of
Tenochtitlan and the disease of smallpox specifically.
Conquistadors)
For this unit, we will talk about the 8 different topics
By the end of the unit, the student will be able
pertaining to the Aztec Empire. Students will be able to
to identify the 8 different topics and give at least
1 example of each topic of the Aztec Empire.
identify the 8 different topics of the Aztec Empire and give at
least one example in each topic.
By the end of the unit, TSWBT create their own
The student will create their own civilization with details
civilization with details about their geography,
government, religion, social structure, language
about their geography, government, religion, social
structure, language & tech, and arts & culture.
& tech, and arts & culture.
EE 314: Instructional Unit Plan Design
Teacher and Student Resources
Resource Name URL or ISBN
Aztecs: Empire, Culture &
History.com
Facts - HISTORY
Worldhistory.org Aztec Art
Aztec and Maya Law Texas Law
Aztec Facts For Kids | Aztec
DK Find Out History For Kids | DK Find
Out
The Daily Life of an Aztec
Family - History Books for
The Daily Life of an Kids | Children's History
Aztec Family Books: Professor, Baby:
9781541912069: Books -
Amazon
Aztec Rituals &
Aztec Rituals
Religious Ceremonies
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Digital Resources (for teachers)
Description Potential Uses
This website provides insight to all 6 aspects
of the Aztec empire that we will be talking Content resource
about.
This website provides insight to types of art
content resource
that the Aztec people used
This website provides descriptions of the Content resource
social statuses.
Digital Resources (for students)
This is an interactive website that talks about
the beliefs, arts, and culture of the Aztec Information resource
empire.
Informational Texts (for students)
This book talks about the lives of Aztec
citizens and what it was like to live during Informational read
their time period.
This article gives many examples of rituals
and ceremonies that were carried out in
Informational Read
respects to the Gods and beliefs of the
Aztecs.
Narrative Texts (for students)
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Amazon.com: Fifth Sun: A

This is a book about the history of the Aztec
New History of the Aztecs:
Fifth Sun empire, specifically rulers, dynasties, and Fun read
9780190673062: Townsend,
wars.
Camilla: Books