Learning objective
- To develop recording skills through exploration of ancient Maya inventions.
Success criteria
- I can describe some inventions of the ancient
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National curriculum
History
The National curriculum for history
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Cross-curricular links
Curriculum links
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Before the lesson
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Lesson plan
Recap and recall
Show the Presentation: Describing ancient Maya gods. In pairs, ask the children to take turns choosing a god. They should speak for thirty seconds, describing what it looked like, what it controlled and why it was important to the ancient Maya. Start the timer for each round so everyone speaks at the same time.
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Adaptive teaching
Pupils needing extra support:
- Should use the Activity: Archive log: support version when recording information in the Main event, which requires fewer inventions to be recorded and includes question stems for categorising.
- Could use the example on slide 2 of the Presentation: Ancient Maya inventions to help them complete the Main event activity.
Pupils working at greater depth:
- Could suggest different categorising questions to show more than one way the inventions could be sorted.
- Should spot and explain patterns across the inventions to draw conclusions about Maya life and society.
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Assessing progress and understanding
Pupils with secure understanding can:
- Identify some inventions of the Maya.
-
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Vocabulary definitions
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archive
A place where important documents, photos and other items are kept safe so people can look at them in the future.
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archivist
A person who takes care of important documents and records, making sure they are safely kept and can be looked at in the future.
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In this unit
Assessment - History Y4: The ancient Maya
Lesson 1: How did the ancient Maya settle in a rainforest?
Lesson 2: What do remains tell us about ancient Maya cities?
Lesson 3: What did the ancient Maya believe?
Lesson 4: How did the Maya reflect world beliefs in their inventions?
Lesson 5: How important was cacao to the ancient Maya?
Lesson 6: What caused the decline of the ancient Maya cities?
Maintained by: Kapow Primary team
Last update: 5th March, 2026
Assessment – History Y4: How did the achievements of the ancient Maya impact their society and beyond?
Assessment quiz, Skills catcher and Knowledge catcher for use at the start and/or end of...
Lesson 3: What did the ancient Maya believe?
Investigating ancient Maya beliefs and the characteristics of Maya gods.
Lesson 1: How did the ancient Maya settle in a rainforest?
Exploring where the ancient Maya settled, the challenges of rainforest life and the solutions they...
Lesson 5: How important was cacao to the ancient Maya?
Exploring the importance of cacao to draw conclusions about ancient Maya life.
