How did people grow their food long ago? Discover how much (or how little) farming has changed with a realistic diorama.

• 1.

  Find out about early farming methods such as terraces, fertilization, crop rotation, and irrigation. What agricultural practices were used in different areas? Which are still used today? Make a diorama showing one or more of these methods. Here’s how we made our sample of Aztec terraces.

• 2.

  Set the scene. Line the inside of the box with white paper. With Crayola® Markers, decorate the inside of a box to look like terrain in the area you are showing. Draw mountains, lakes, or other features.

• 3.

  Fold construction paper into stairstep terrace cornfields. Attach terraces to the box with Crayola School Glue. Air-dry terraces.

• 4.

  Add details. Cut corn stalks and ears from construction paper with Crayola Scissors. Glue on toothpicks. Air-dry before poking toothpicks into paper layers. Mold any extra people or landscaping with Crayola Model Magic. Air-dry sculptures overnight before gluing them into the scene.

Standards

• LA: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
• LA: Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
• LA: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
• LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade level topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
• Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.
• SS: Compare ways in which people from different cultures think about an deal with their physical environment and social conditions.
• SS: Examine the interaction of human beings and their physical environment, the use of land, building of cities, and ecosystem changes in selected locales and regions.
• SS: Use appropriate resources, data sources, and geographic tools to generate, manipulate, and interpret information.
• VA: Intentionally take advantage of the qualities and characteristics of art media, techniques, and processes to enhance communication of experiences and ideas.
• VA: Select and use the qualities of structures and functions of art to improve communication of ideas.

Adaptations

• Possible classroom resources include: Aztec, Inca, and Maya by Elizabeth Banquedano; The Aztec Empire by Sunita Apte
• Encourage students to research the farming practices of other civilizations of the time period when the Aztecs flourished. Compare and contrast the methods used by each civilization.
• Compare and contrast the farming practices of the Aztecs with contemporary farming practices. How are they similar? How are they different?
• Students research the crops indigenous to their home area. Who grew them first?