The calendars of the Maya
I can explain why calendars were so important to the Maya.
The calendars of the Maya
I can explain why calendars were so important to the Maya.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- The Maya believed the sky was where the gods lived; watching it carefully they tracked the movement of celestial bodies.
- The Maya had lots of different calendars, some were based on these movements, others on the time it took maize to grow.
- The Maya used these calendars to make sure they carried out religious ceremonies at the right times and to measure time.
- The Maya used cycles to measure time, so their calendars were circular and relied on great mathematical understanding.
- Using these calendars, the Maya recorded the dates of when important things happened, using their hieroglyphic writing.
Keywords
Celestial body - a celestial body is an object in space, like a star, planet, moon, or comet
Calendar - a calendar is a chart that's used to keep track of days, weeks, months and years
Cycle - a cycle is a sequence of events that occur repeatedly and follow the same pattern each time
Common misconception
The Maya had just one calendar.
They actually used several interconnected calendars. The most notable ones are the Tzolk'in (a 260-day ceremonial calendar), the Haab' (a 365-day solar calendar), and the Long Count calendar, which tracked longer periods of time.
To help you plan your year 6 history lesson on: The calendars of the Maya, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 6 history lesson on: The calendars of the Maya, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
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Explore more key stage 2 history lessons from the The Maya: what made the Maya so distinctive? unit, dive into the full secondary history curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Licence
Lesson video
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Starter quiz
6 Questions
indigenous people of Mesoamerica
a region encompassing parts of Central America
a country in Central America
Exit quiz
6 Questions
a solar calendar
a sacred calendar
a linear calendar