Moving on from the Aztecs and Maya thematic units, we spent this week developing a basic understanding of the Incan Empire.
We started with a geographical lapbook of the span of the Empire and the weather extremes they would have experienced.
We had a very silly morning making Machu Picchu out of cheese.
I chose cheese (!) to show the children that in Inca architecture individual blocks were carved to fit perfectly on top of others, rather than using any form of cement.
Apparently no one is ever eating cheese again.
We made quipus:
quipu
ˈkiːpuː,ˈkwɪ-/
noun
- an ancient Inca device for recording information, consisting of variously coloured threads knotted in different ways.
Sapa Inca, leader of the Incas and thought to be the son of the sun. Coya Inca, daughter of the moon and also his wife and sister. In this way theirs sons, future emperors, would have pure blood from the gods.
We had a few versions of these ;)
He visited his people on a litter. But don't look him in the eye or you face imminent death!
The gods and goddesses of the Incas.
Viracocha - the creator
Inti - god of the sun and Mama Quilla - the Moon goddess
Illapa - god of thunder and lightning
K'uychi - the rainbow god
Pacha Mama - goddess of the Earth
Mama Cocha - goddess of the sea
Measuring how far a llama can spit - 15 feet!
Learning some fun llama facts:
They stick their tongue out at other llamas if they're cross
They sit down and won't move if they've been overloaded
They rank themselves socially by how well they behave. Best behaved llama is at the top.
Inca play. The best way to learn.
The children watched a documentary on the Inca trail to Machu Picchu and made an adjective poster to describe everything they saw and felt. The older two used Thesauruses for this.
Lake Titicaca
