Aztec Calendar

Time :45 minutes

Author: Jenny Cantu

Outline

Greeting and Review	Meet in your regular meeting spot. Review last weeks lesson if applicable.
Main Lesson	Aztec Calendar
Activity 1	Rock Painting Materials Needed: flat painting rocks or river stones, acrylic paint and or paint pens, paint brushes (for younger children you can have the glyphs printed out and use modge podge to glue the glyph onto their stone
Activity 2	Garden Maintenance Materials Needed: watering cans, gloves
External References	https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&ei=UTF-8&p=aztec+calendar&type=E215US105G0#id=8&vid=64d86d4cc4dd046e97664ab76dc90ec3&action=view https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&ei=UTF-8&p=aztec+calendar&type=E215US105G0#id=14&vid=d0a2d783296481236c36da43042d977e&action=view https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&ei=UTF-8&p=aztec+calendar&type=E215US105G0#id=14&vid=d0a2d783296481236c36da43042d977e&action=view
Worksheets	Worksheets #1 and #2 (see below)

Background Information: Aztec Calendar

Explain to the class:

“The Aztec Calendar was a 365 day calendar just like the one we have now. The difference is that they separated their calendar into 18 periods, or seasons. Each season contained 20 days – una veintena”.

Ask: Why do you think they called these season veintenas?
Answer: Because they consisted of “20” days. The word veintena comes from the word veinte.

This left 5 days that were not represented on the calendar. These days were called “nemontemi”. They were the days between the old and the new year and were a time of festivals and celebration during the transition from old to new.

The Aztec Calendar was one of the most unique and accurate calendars ever created because the source of its creation was solar and the Aztecs had none of the resources we have today to create it.

Ask: Can anyone tell me what solar means?
Answer: From the sun

During these 18 seasons, there was a time for the harvest, a time for drought, a time for rain, etc..

ACTIVITY 1 : Rock Painting

Have the students locate their birthday season according to the month range on the 1st handout.
Pass out stones , paint and brushes and have students paint the glyph next to their birthday range on their stone. Some birth dates will be included in more than one season – students may choose which glyph they would like to paint.
As students finish, ask what their glyph is and have them explain it to the class.
For younger children you can color handout #2.