Lucia Tomas Grau

INTRODUCTION

Would you like to know about your ancestors who were the first inhabitants of your land? Learning about our past enriches us culturally and personally. It gives us the sense of our current life such as our habits, traditions, religion, architecture, homes, farming among other elements. My goal as teacher is to transmit to my students this knowledge so they discover the connections with the Indigenous tribes who lived in their land. The native people who lived in North and South America were organized in tribes. They hunted, fished, grew crops and sometimes fought. However, there was one group called the Incas who built a vast Empire and found new ways to farm, built roads and created wonderful art.

The study of this unit addresses elementary students, in particular 4^th grade students. Often students come from different countries, especially from Latin America. As a result, some of my students are mixed race or “mestizos”. Thus, they have a bond with Indigenous heritage and will find a connection with this topic. Accordingly, the unit´s goal is to give my students more knowledge about Indigenous Americans and their culture. This curriculum unit will focus on the world of the Incas, one of the empires that the Spanish colonialists reached.

That is why I want my students to be enriched by Inca culture by building an Inca Museum where they will exhibit the history of Incas with arts, crafts, writings, objects. For that, they will watch videos and read essays and articles to understand Incan lifestyle. I will provide them with these resources. The students will find out the way they farmed, built houses and roads and governed, among other issues. One of the most curious and attractive themes will be to learn about the quipu, a unique system of recording information from their predecessors according to Kim MacQuarrie as he says in his book The Last Days of the Incas. For sure, it will be an unforgettable experience for students because they must build it using their knowledge and creativity. They must represent some data and numbers making knots on the strings.

Demographics

My students attend Skelly Elementary School in Tulsa Public Schools (TPS). I serve as the 4^th grade Spanish Language Arts, Science and Social Studies teacher. Skelly school is relatively big. It enrolls 747 students, counting both buildings, primary and upper buildings which are separated. Recently, the school has been remodeled offering new equipment in the classrooms, such as digital screens and new furniture (chairs, desks, shelves and closets). Also, TPS provides the school with all the computers needed for the students, so each student has a Chromebook to use in class. According to Niche.com, 49% of the students are female and 51% are male. In addition, there exists a wide diversity: Hispanic students at 48.2%, African American at 19.9%, White at 15%, Multiracial at 9.4% and Native American at 3.7%. Historically, the students’ level has been low, being below the state average in all the academic subjects. Niche.com shows that only 3% of the students scored above proficiency levels on their state reading assessment test. We are a dual language school which offers programs for native Spanish-speaking students to gain fluency and literacy in English and Spanish besides learning about other cultures, which allows the students to gain skills in both languages and enrich them personally and culturally. Taking all that into consideration, it presents a challenge themselves with the instructional methodology or approach for teachers.

Pedagogical Philosophy

After teaching two school years at Skelly Elementary School and trying different approaches, I must say that using active methodologies and including dynamic activities helps students to be more engaged. In fact, Social Studies is one of their favorite subjects because it implies creativity, hands-on activities and projects. That is why my teaching is based on Project Based Learning (PBL) and cooperative learning. The first one (PBL), is a teaching method in which students learn by actively engaging in real-world and personally meaningful projects. According to the Buck Institute for Education (https://www.pblworks.org/), students work on a project over an extended period of time – from a week up to a semester – that engages them in solving a real-world problem or answering a complex question. They demonstrate their knowledge and skills by creating a public product or presentation for a real audience.

As a result, students develop deep content knowledge as well as critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and communication skills by investigating and collaborating. On top of that, I will use cooperative learning strategies during the different activities which involve students working together to achieve the goals of the unit.

My class is composed of 22 students. Most of them were born in Latin American countries, mainly in Mexico so their mother tongue is Spanish. I must say that not all of them have mastered the English language, but the different school services help them to improve in English to master both languages. Moreover, there exists a variety of levels in my class, from those who scored above proficiency levels to those who struggle in reading and writing. That is why my students are sat down in groups of 4, with, at least, one of them with high level, so I try to balance the level of each group. This organization allows us to use cooperative techniques such as “Think, pair and share”. They can read all together, share opinions about what they read or watch, help each other, etc. All in all, they can enrich each other.

Rationale

As teacher, I have the responsibility to ensure equity and a safe environment in order to learn in an efficient way. I serve as my students’ guide and walk with them during their learning to be sure that they are gaining knowledge successfully. Considering that my students have a connection with the Indigenous heritage, my goal is that they know deeply about their history, the past, the Indigenous culture, focusing on the Incas. Nowadays, most of us have a busy lifestyle and many entertainments, such as social networks, which take away from asking about our past and heritage. Who do we come from? What was their daily life like? What did they lend/leave us to improve our life and society? With this Unit and using active methodologies, I want my students to gain culture and knowledge about their past, letting them answer all these questions and discovering the beginnings of their history and culture.

Objectives

The unit is planned to last 3-4 weeks in order for students to master the different objectives and gain the skills to develop the project of this unit by watching videos and reading different texts about the Incas.

To discover their bond with the Indigenous cultures.
To learn about Incas’ habits, outfit, government, houses.
To compare the Incas’ culture with their current life.
To analyze the discoveries and progress of the Inca Empire and how they helped them to live an easier life.
To study what a quipu is and what it was used for.
To build their own quipus which represent different data.
To share and be able to explain the Inca culture by exhibiting the quipus and other posters in the Inca Museum.
To build critical thinking through discussing all the information they look at with their classmates.

UNIT CONTENT

Where does the Inca Empire come from?

Many hundreds of years ago, before the XVI century, native peoples organized in different groups lived in both North and South America. The Inca were one of these peoples who became more powerful by attacking nearby groups in the early 1300s². They began building the largest empire that ever existed in the Americas in the Huantanay (Cuzco) Valley of modern central Peru. Yet the Incas’ rise to power lasted fewer than 100 years, and during the whole of this time they were engaged in wars. However, under the rule of Pachacuti, the imperial state of the Incas was founded and continued to dominate the Cuzco Valley. As a result, they built vast roads and monuments³.

As this is a complex unit, I fully recommend starting with the Incas’ origin. That will be the framework for students understanding better the following contents. Therefore, to build a firm scaffold, my students will watch a video called “The Inca Empire, Machu Picchu and Incan Culture”⁴ which includes a good summary of the origin, architecture, daily life and their culture. Then, they will read a text about the origin of the Incas called “Quick history” (https://incas.mrdonn.org/quickhistory.html), using the “Partner Reading” strategy, so they will pair with their partner previously assigned by me. This text will allow them to build the framework of the unit besides exploring their history.

Inca Religion and Government

Religion constituted an essential part of the Incas’ life. They prayed every day to their gods. So, they believed in the gods of nature. The most powerful was Viracocha, the Creator. Under him were many gods who were extensions of him. One of the most important gods was Inti, the god of the sun. Incas worshipped him for agricultural practices as agriculture was the Incas’ survival basic element. They had a temple devoted to him in every Inca settlement. They considered themselves the children of the sun and believed that gold was the sweat of the sun. Thus, they built elaborate shrines on mountaintops to get closer to the celestial bodies they worshipped.

Also, they had Illapa, the god of Thunder and other elements of the weather, Mama-Quilla, the god of the Moon and Pachamama, the earth-mother goddess. Farmers made sacrifices to this last one for healthy and abundant harvests⁵.

Why is the government connected to religion in the Inca Empire? Although religious and governmental bureaucracies were separate, both church and state had an interrelationship. Most governmental actions were conducted by consulting only if they consulted the gods. In fact, the more important the activity, the more important the religious rituals that were necessary for the success of the venture. In addition, the religious bureaucracy depended on the state’s conquests to provide food and supplies needed to conduct its affairs⁶. Moreover, the head of government in the Inca Empire was a god according to them. He was the Sapa Inca. The Inca believed he was descended from the most important of the many Inca gods, the sun god Inti.

However, how could the Sapa lead the whole Empire? The empire was divided into four divisions or quarters (see photo 2) which radiated from the capital city of Cuzco. Below the king were four officials, called apos, each in charge of one quarter. These officials were close advisors of the king. Each province had its own governor who was responsible for its affairs. There were more than 80 provinces in the Inca Empire. Each governor was under the orders of an apo and consecutively. So, the system was hierarchical like many modern countries today⁷.

Although it can be difficult understandable content for my students, it will help them to watch some attractive videos with less complexity. (https://youtu.be/1McIeIZCjv0)

To master this, they will create a funny comic regarding how the governor leads and his relationship with religion. I will provide them with different comic templates.

Photo 1. The extent of the Inca empire, Expansion of the empire under 4 powerful Inca leaders, and Tawantinsuyu, or the Four United Regions⁸.

Daily life in the Inca Empire and Clothing

Many small details of life in the Inca Empire are not known with any accuracy. However, we could describe a qualitative approach of their daily routine looking at the few references in Spanish documents and the descriptions of the contemporary groups who live a life that appears similar to the ancient people’s⁹.

This article entitled “Inca Daily Life” (http://www.historyshistories.com/inca-daily-life.html), which we will read in class, will help students to understand the Inca’s occupations, labors and activities they did daily.

Inca society had two main social classes – an upper, elite class and a lower class made up of commoners who were the most of them. Whether elite or common, all families were organized into ayllu’s. The ayllu was a group of families that worked a portion of land together. They shared most of their belongings with each other just like a larger family. The king, priests, and government officials made up the Inca upper class. While most noble men worked for the government, women from noble families had household duties such as cooking and making clothes. They also took care of children. Mostly, commoners were farmers. They worked all the time except when there were religious festivals. Because the Inca lived in the mountains, they often had to build terraces, or flat areas cut into the hillside, to plant their crops in. They also had to dig canals so they could direct mountain streams and rain to crops like quinoa, corn, avocados, and potatoes. However, the harsh climate meant that food was sometimes scarce, so the Inca figured out how to preserve some crops to make them last a long time¹⁰.

Regarding education, they did not have any written language, just a system of knotted cords to keep records called quipu. Researchers are using computers to try to untangle these long-lost codes. In despite of this, they learned techniques based on listening and memorizing. The only ones who could go to school were the sons of the noble families. Children of common Inca were taught farming skills by their parents. At school, the nobles’ sons learned, just for four years, the Inca language, Quechua, the Inca religion and history and how to use the quipus¹¹.

Furthermore, the Inca and their predecessors were highly accomplished at spinning, weaving and sewing. Fiber art was one of the most valued skills in the Inca Empire. The fabrics and clothes they created were designed and decorated with colors, patterns and images that told stories and had religious and spiritual meaning. Moreover, Inca clothing described the Incas’ position in society. For example, only Sapa Inca could wear a special hat made of gold and feathers besides gold jewelry. Men wore a rectangular tunic that went over their heads and a loincloth, which all men received as part of their coming-of-age ceremony around the age of 14. Women wrapped a rectangular cloth around their bodies and under their arms, then pinned it together over their shoulders. Around their waist they tied a woven belt called chumpi¹².

To find out the way they got dressed my students will look for pictures and write down the different pieces of clothing depending on the society level they belonged to. After that, they will create a tunic using some supplies such as paper bag, scissors ruler and markers in order to show it in the Inca Museum.

Homes and Monuments

Nineteenth-century observers of Inca Architecture used to equate the huge stones of the temple-fortress of Sacsahuaman or of Hatun Rumiyoc palace in Cuzco with the cyclopean walls of Mycenaean Greece. They wrongly concluded that these had been built by a megalithic culture, perhaps a race of giants far older than the Incas. We now know that all Inca building was done during the burst of creative activity of the empire’s expansion. The great German traveler Alexander von Humboldt declared in the early nineteenth century that simplicity, symmetry and solidity are the three characteristics that so admirably distinguish all Peruvian buildings¹³. Additionally, most of the houses were made with adobe and topped with a roof of dried grass although upper-class families lived in stone houses in Cuzco. There were no doors and no windows. The doorway was covered with a strip of hanging leather or woven cloth. Goods were stored in baskets. People slept on mats. On cold nights, they slept near the stone stove. In the morning, the family left to work the fields (see photo 3).

Photo 2: One example of windowless, thatched-roof Inca homes¹⁴.

The Incas were wonderful builders. Do you imagine them carrying the materials and building in the high mountains with extreme temperatures and steep land? They did it. Machu Picchu is one of the most important archeological finds of all time. If the Spanish would have discovered it, it is likely they would have destroyed it in their desperate search for gold and silver. Machu Picchu is full of unique stone creations or temples such as the Temple of the Condor. A number of these sites were designed as observatories for watching and recording the movements of the sun, moon, planets and stars. The Temple of the Sun is one of the most amazing structures at Ollantaytambo, a complex in the Sacred Valley consisting of an estate and a village. The Incas built the Temple of the sun in honor to their sun god. Apart from being used as an observatory, it was also used to celebrate religious sacrifices and ceremonies¹⁵.

Extraordinary manpower would have been necessary for large construction projects. The stones were moved by teams of men pulling with ropes. Cieza De Leon also writes “4000 of them quarried and cut the stones; 6000 hauled them with great cables of leather and hemp.” Despite all the work and effort, what we know is that they made their Empire almost perfect and nowadays some of the buildings remain almost intact.

After exploring Incan archeology, the students will build a recreation of an Incan home using mud and some dried leaves. This will be placed at our Inca Museum.

Quipus

The author and four-time Emmy-award winning documentary filmmaker Kim MacQuarrie says the following about the Quipus: “They were like early computers, early counting machines”. Quipus were a system of knotted strings that stored data and communicated information. Cultures across the ancient Andean world used this system for thousands of years¹⁶.

After some research made by Gary Urton, author of the book Inka history in knots, he says there were two major recording traditions represented in the approximately 923 quipus surviving from Inca times. One type is quantitative which represents numerical information in the base-10 system of numeration. The other type is narrative. Narrative quipus are ones whose knots do not follow the decimal format, rather, they are formed and arrayed along strings in ways that are significantly different from the decimal-based examples. Maybe these quipus recorded information about Pachacuti Inca or other individuals of Inca history.

Not only to read but also to build a quipu is a complex task. The “backbone” of a quipus is a linear cord known as the primary cord, the thickest one. Attached to this, is a variable number of so-called pendant strings or cords. Pendant cords may carry second-order cords, referred to as subsidiary cords, which themselves may carry subsidiaries. Quipus have been identified with as many as six levels of subsidiaries. But the most important elements are the primary cord, pendant strings and subsidiaries¹⁷ .

Photo 3: Basic structure of a quipu and its principal components. Graphic taken from G. Urton, 2003¹⁸.

The end of the Inca Empire

To end the unit, it is essential that my students get some knowledge about how this powerful empire ended up. For that, they will watch a video called “The Fall of the Inca Empire” (https://youtu.be/ALAS9NLcFIk) and discuss the details of the end of the Incas in the whole group using the strategy “Think-Pair-Share”.

For almost one hundred years, the Inca Empire was strong. But the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the early 1500s. During that time the Inca Empire was suffering some internal problems such as a deadly disease and a lot of fighting within the empire. It was a lethal time for the Spaniards to conquer the empire. Francisco Pizarro, one of the conquistadors, led the campaign that toppled the Inca¹⁹. He reached Panama by ship in 1513, and later became mayor of the newly founded Panama City. When Pizarro heard the Incas possessed a lot of gold, he decided to conquer this land. By that time, Pachacuti king was dead, and Huascar and Atahualpa were fighting to become the Sapa Inca. In 1523, Atahualpa’s forces captured Huascar and killed him. However, his reign lasted a short time. While celebrating, he was discovered by Pizarro and his troop. Atahualpa knew the Spaniards were coming but he was confident of his power because he had much more soldiers than the Spanish. But Pizarro’s men had two things the Incas did not have: horses and guns. The Inca’s king agreed to meet Pizarro in Cajamarca, a city north of Cuzco. He got surprised by the Spaniards who were hidden and fired their guns at the Incas. Atahualpa was captured and they killed many of the Inca guards. It was the beginning of the end of the Inca Empire. After the defeat of the Incas, they brought gold and silver objects to Pizarro. As for Machu Picchu, the Spaniards never discovered it because it was hidden and covered by the forest. It is said that if the Spaniards had found it, they would have destroyed it to take all the gold with them²⁰.

TEACHING STRATEGIES

Gallery Walk

Some pictures which show the Inca Empire’s most important features will be displayed across the classroom to be seen by the students. They will walk around in their groups and will stop by each chart. Then, they will think, share ideas and write down the pictures and their thoughts about what they have seen in the picture. I will launch the timer which indicates when they should switch to the next chart. This teaching strategy will help them to build their first approach towards the Inca Empire. Once the students have stopped by all the pictures, they will walk to peruse the ideas written by the rest of the groups.

Think-Pair-Share

My students will use this strategy every time because the unit requires a lot of communication among the students. They must think about the meaning of the text or of an image or even the answer of a question. Then, they will share their ideas with their classmates. Undoubtedly, it helps to build comprehension and better relationships.

Partner Reading

As I said above in “Pedagogical Philosophy”, my teaching is based on using cooperative learning techniques. So, one of these is “Partner Reading” in which “two students work together to read an assigned text. This strategy helps students build fluency by reading aloud to each other. Thus, they take turns as the reader and the listener”²¹. While partner “A” is reading, partner “B” is following the text and listening. It is important to pair the students considering their fluency and comprehension. As a result, one more fluent reader will be next to one less fluent.

Each time they must read a text, this strategy will be applied, for instance, when they have to read a text called “Quick history” which is about the origin of the Incas. Also, I will carry out the strategy a few times during the reading of the comic Investigating Machu Picchu, an Isabel Soto archaeology adventure. In this way, my students will feel more confident and engaged because of their partner’s support.

Close Reading

This reading strategy will allow my students to understand better the texts. It requires students to slow down, think, annotate, and reflect²². Apart from that, I will choose the appropriate texts to read in class considering their level and knowledge. For instance, we will use this strategy with the comic called Investigating Machu Picchu, an Isabel Soto archaeology adventure, which the whole group will read in class. I will launch some questions before and during the reading to guide them in their comprehension and to focus on the important characteristics of the Inca. These questions will facilitate the discussion between the students and to get the key insights.

Jigsaw

Jigsaw will be the main strategy which the students will use to develop their knowledge about the Inca Empire. My students will have their “home” group and each member of this group must become an expert by learning one aspect of the Inca Empire. They will meet with members from other groups who are assigned the same aspect and will form “expert groups”. After mastering the material, they will return to the “home” group and will teach the material to their group members. With this strategy, each student in the “home” group serves as a piece of the topic’s puzzle and when they work together as a whole, they create the complete jigsaw puzzle. So, each student must master their learning about all aspects of the Incas by sharing and displaying their learning and listening to the others²³.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

Building basic knowledge

To begin with, I want students to make connections with their prior knowledge about the Inca Empire. Thus, I will use the KWL technique (I Know-I Want-Learned) which ties together student’s prior knowledge, their desire to learn more, and the conclusions of their learning. My pupils will have a chart to fill out what they know about the topic of the unit (it can be any ideas, examples that come up to their minds) and what they want to know about it. These first two steps will take place before reading texts and watching videos. The third step (what they have learned) will be completed after they have finished reading. I consider that this is a good start because this technique promotes research, active reading, and enhances learning.

After activating the student’s prior knowledge, there will be some posters about Inca culture around the class. They will be hung on the walls. My students, in groups of 4-5, will walk around to peruse the images illustrated on the posters and take notes about what they see putting in practice the strategy “Gallery Walk” described above. One of the tools I consider very useful is the timer which I use very frequently so they are able to see it on the screen and manage their time. So, they will have 1 minute to think in silence, another minute to talk with the partner or group and then, a spokesperson will share the group`s notes or ideas with the whole class so they are using the “Think-Pair-Share” technique in this activity too.

Once we have made a first approach to the Inca Empire, we will proceed to read a very fun comic book called “Investigating Machu Picchu, an Isabel Soto archaeology adventure”. This reading will be carried out using two techniques, “Close Reading” and “Partner Reading”, so the way to read it will vary. During the first one, they will slow down and take notes while they are reading. About the second one, I will make partners considering their academic levels to get a balance and they will take turns to read and help each other with the understanding of the text.

As my students read this comic, they will find out many features of Incas through a group of youngsters who jump in an adventure to explore Machu Picchu, the way they built houses, farming and religion among other characteristics.

Exploring-investigating the Inca´s culture

After building a steady scaffolding, they will be able to immerse themselves in the investigation of the Inca Empire. Therefore, they will carry out the research through the Jigsaw technique. Thus, the students will be organized in groups of 4 or 5 considering their different levels of knowledge. Each member of a group will be assigned one of the different topics explained in the Unit Content section such as quipus, religion and government, Inca daily life and clothing and Homes and Monuments. So, they must investigate it until they become experts on the theme. As a teacher, I will guide them during their research providing useful resources such as websites, videos and books where they will find the exact information. All students who have been assigned the same topic will meet, forming “expert groups”, to talk about it and share useful knowledge. Once they master their theme, they must do the assignment for their topic. For instance, the group that researched Inca Religion and Government will create a funny comic or the Quipus group will build a quipu using ropes (see Unit Content).

After having finished their assignments, my students will return to their original group in order to share and teach the rest of members the knowledge they got and show their product of the assignment. The goal is that each member of the group gets mastery of every topic by listening, learning from each other, sharing their ideas, and learning and asking questions. It is an activity which requires a lot of organization and implication, but they are working on many skills such as writing, listening, speaking and reading as well as building good relationships. Having finished the investigation through the Jigsaw technique, they should have enough knowledge about the Incas to go on to the final product of the unit.

Creating an Inca Museum

Creating an Inca Museum is an engaging and productive way to demonstrate their learning about the Inca Empire as well as to spread it to other members of the school community (students from other classes, teachers, parents, even staff from the Administration).

The whole group will decide how it will look. They will think about the decoration and organization of all materials that will be exhibited. Then, the “expert groups”, that investigated the same theme, will join to discuss how to display the product they created during their investigation and consider if something else will be added. For instance, the quipus, the typical Inca tunic, the 3D Inca home and some drawings and posters will be displayed in the room recreating an authentic Inca Museum. Then, other classes from different grades will come into our class to visit it. My students will be ready to explain some information that they learned and answer questions that other students may have.

Teacher and student assessment

To finish with the unit, I consider the assessment very important not only to evaluate my students but also to let students assess themselves. To carry out the evaluation process, we will use “Rubrics”, an extremely useful and effective tool for both teachers and students. As a teacher, this tool will help me to assign more objective and realistic grades. For the students using the rubric to assess themselves, it will allow them to reflect not only on their learning process but also on their final products. The rubric will have clear standards set up and scores from 1 to 4, being 1 “Needs improvement” and 4 “Excellent”.

RESOURCES

Sohn, Emily, et al. Investigating Machu Picchu: An Isabel Soto Archaeology Adventure. Capstone Press, 2010. This is the comic I will use to introduce the topic of the unit.

Informational videos on Youtube. This will be a resource to watch different videos and to help students to understand better the contents they must master.

Posters from “Quick history” (https://incas.mrdonn.org/quickhistory.html)

“Inca Daily Life” http://www.historyshistories.com/inca-daily-life.html). This article will be read in class to understand Incas daily routines.

Power Point presentation. This will be used to summarize the beginning and the end of the Inca Empire.

Urton, Gary. Inka history in knots: reading khipus as primary sources. First edition, University of Texas Press, 2017. This book will be useful for students to know what a quipu is, the different parts of a quipu and how to make it.

Levy, Janey. 20 Fun Facts about Machu Picchu. First edition, Gareth Stevens Publishing, 2014. This book allows students to have a quick and easy connection with Machu Picchu through different curiosities and fun facts.

Stine, M. Where is Machu Picchu? The New York Times Best-Selling Series.

We will be able to discover the location where the Incas lived, their conquests and their different fights until the end of their empire.

Kovacs, L. Inca. Discover the culture and geography of a lost civilization. Nomad press. It is a very illustrated book that not only includes the explanation of Inca culture but also 25 hands-on projects and activities to do in class.

APPENDIX

These are the Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies and Language Arts that we must acquire at the end of the unit.

Social Studies

4.2.1 Use maps and other geographic representations (such as globes and graphs), tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective.

My students will use different posters, maps and online resources to get information about geographic aspects of the Incas so they can learn about the Incas’ location, how their land was as well as their monuments and houses.

4.4.1 Analyze how humans adapt to and modify their environments in order to survive and grow.

My students will study the way the Incas live. Thus, they will discover how the Incas’ economy was, their daily activities such as farming and the materials they used to build their houses and monuments, even their clothing.

ELA (English Language Arts)

4.1.S.1 Students will work effectively and respectfully in diverse groups by sharing responsibility for collaborative work and recognizing individual contributions made by each group member.

Most of the time, my students will work in groups to search and share ideas in order to master the contents and do the final product of the unit. Communication between them will be the key for their success.

4.6.R.1 Students will conduct research to answer questions, including self-generated questions, and to build knowledge, using multiple sources (e.g., visual and text reference sources, electronic resources, and/or interviews).

Research and reading will be the main activities. My students will have to read texts and visual maps and some of them will be placed on the Internet.

NOTES

Photo of Macchu Picchu taken in 2007. From the Wikimedia Commons. https://inquirygroup.org/history-lessons/inca-empire. Accessed December 1st, 2023.
Stine, M. Where is Machu Picchu? The New York Times Best-Selling Series, 2018. 8.
https://incas.mrdonn.org/quickhistory.html. Accessed January 4th, 2024.
“The Inca Empire, Machu Picchu and Incan Culture” https://youtu.be/1McIeIZCjv0. Accessed January 18th, 2024.
Kovacs, L. Inca. Discover the culture and geography of a lost civilization. Nomad press, 2013. 33-40.
Malpass, Michael Andrew. Daily life in the Inca empire. Greenwood Press, 1996. 101.
http://www.historyshistories.com/inca-government.html. Accessed February 2nd, 2024.
The extent of the Inca empire, Expansion of the empire under 4 powerful Inca leaders, and Tawantinsuyu, or the Four United Regions. http://www.historyshistories.com/inca-government.html. Accessed February 2nd, 2024.
Malpass, Michael Andrew. 113
http://www.historyshistories.com/inca-daily-life.html. Accessed February 8th, 2024.
D’Altroy, Terence N. The Incas. Second edition, Wiley-Blackwell, 2015. 187-190.
“The Inca Empire, Machu Picchu and Incan Culture”. 81-86.
Hemming, John, and Edward Ranney. Monuments of the Incas. Rev. and Expanded ed, Thames & Hudson, 2010. 17.
http://www.historyshistories.com/inca-daily-life.html. Accessed February 8th, 2024.
Kovacs, L. 61-73.
https://www.peruforless.com/blog/quipu/. Accessed January 25th, 2024.
Basic structure of a quipu and its principal components. Graphic taken from G. Urton, 2003. https://precolombino.cl/wp/en/exposiciones/exposiciones-temporales/exposicion-quipu-contar-anudando-en-el-imperio-inka-2003/las-partes-de-un-quipu/. Accessed February 8th, 2024.
Urton, Gary. Inka history in knots: reading khipus as primary sources. First edition, University of Texas Press, 2017.
Kovacs, L. 91-92.
Stine, M. 48-61.
https://www.readingrockets.org/classroom/classroom-strategies/paired-reading. Accessed February 5th, 2024.
https://www.weareteachers.com/strategies-for-close-reading/. Accessed February 5th, 2024.
https://www.jigsaw.org/. Accessed February 5th, 2024.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ascher, Marcia, y Robert Ascher. Code of the quipu: a study in media, mathematics, and culture. University of Michigan Press, 1981.

This book includes a good explanation about how the Incas started to record their data making quipus besides providing detailed steps of how to make a quipu with very clear images.

Cieza de León, Pedro de, y Manuel Ballesteros Gaibrois. El señorío de los Incas. 1a ed, Historia 16, 1985.

Cobo, Bernabé, and Roland Hamilton. History of the Inca Empire: An Account of the Indians’ Customs and Their Origin, Together with a Treatise on Inca Legends, History, and Social Institutions. University of Texas Press, 1979.

D’Altroy, Terence N. The Incas. Second edition, Wiley-Blackwell, 2015.

Gould, Sloane and Bjorklund, Ruth. Peru. Exploring world cultures. Cavendish Square, 2022.

Hemming, John, and Edward Ranney. Monuments of the Incas. Rev. and Expanded ed, Thames & Hudson, 2010.

Jones, David M. The illustrated history of the Incas. Hermes House.

Kovacs, L. Inca. Discover the culture and geography of a lost civilization. Nomad press, 2013.

Levy, Janey. 20 Fun Facts about Machu Picchu. First edition, Gareth Stevens Publishing, 2014.

Malpass, Michael Andrew. Daily life in the Inca empire. Greenwood Press, 1996.

Rostworoski de Diez Canseco, Maria. Historia del Tahuantinsuyu. Nueva edición, IEP, 1999.

Sohn, Emily, et al. Investigating Machu Picchu: An Isabel Soto Archaeology Adventure. Capstone Press, 2010.

This book is a comic which tells who the Inca were, where they lived and their daily life activities through a lot of amazing illustrations and easy and engaging reading.

Stine, M. Where is Machu Picchu? The New York Times Best-Selling Series, 2018.

Urton, Gary. Inka history in knots: reading khipus as primary sources. First edition, University of Texas Press, 2017.

Websites

Cooperative Learning. An Overview of Cooperative Learning. David W Johnson and Roger T Johnson. Accessed, December 2^nd, 2023.

https://www.co-operation.org/what-is-cooperative-learning

Digital inquiry group. Inca Empire. Accessed December 1st, 2023.

https://inquirygroup.org/history-lessons/inca-empire

History’s Histories. You are history. We are the future. Inca daily life. Accessed February 8th, 2024.

http://www.historyshistories.com/inca-daily-life.html

Inca – Kids | Britannica Kids | Homework Help. Accessed January 7^th, 2024.

https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/Inca/353286

Jigsaw classroom. Jigsaw in 10 easy steps. Accessed February 5th, 2024.

https://www.jigsaw.org

Kiddle. Inca architecture facts for kids. Accessed January 25th, 2024.

https://kids.kiddle.co/Inca_architecture

Lesson Plans – The Inca Empire for Kids. Accessed January 4th, 2024.

https://incas.mrdonn.org/lessonplans.html

This website provides a lot of information about the different themes that my students must master. It includes not too long texts to read with images as well as games and quizzes to prove their learning.

Museo chileno de arte precolombino. QUIPU: COUNTING WITH KNOTS IN THE INKA EMPIRE – 2003. Accessed February 8th, 2024.

https://study.com/academy/lesson/temple-of-the-sun-at-machu-picchu-history-facts.html

National Geographic kids- Inca civilization. Accessed December 2^nd, 2023.

https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/inca-civilization

Quipu: The Ancient Computer of the Inca Civilization – Peru For Less. Accessed January 25th, 2024.

https://www.peruforless.com/blog/quipu

Reading rockets. Classroom strategies. Paired reading. Accessed February 5th, 2024.

https://www.readingrockets.org/classroom/classroom-strategies/paired-reading

We are teachers. Ideas and inspiration for reaching the next generation. Close Reading Strategies: A Step-by-Step Teaching Guide. Accessed February 5th, 2024.

World History Encyclopedia. Inca civilization. Accessed February 16^th, 2024.

https://www.worldhistory.org/Inca_Civilization

Youtube. “The Fall of the Inca Empire.” Accessed March 2^nd, 2024.

Youtube. “The Inca Empire, Machu Picchu And Incan Culture | Ancient History For Children | Incan Empire Quiz.” Accessed January 18th, 2024.