An Andy Lesson Plan
by: Mrs. L. Wechter, 5th Grade
West Noble Middle School
Ligonier, Indiana, USA

Subject: The Inca People

Grade Level Appropriateness:
5th grade (can include grades 4 - 6). Some activities may be used at lower grade levels.

NOTE: This lesson plan is based on teaching to all four learning styles, using right-brain and left-brain mode techniques.

Connect

Students are engaged in a game of telephone.
Arrange students in a large circle. Tell one student a message containing facts and ask them to tell the next student in line. Speak loud enough for the next person to hear but not the other students. Continue sending the message around the circle. The last student shall announce to the class the message that they heard.

Sample message for Telephone Game:
"Last night two sets of raccoons entered the garden gate. They were searching for fabulous free food. Eli had left the cellar door open. The raccoons scurried in and proceeded to eat the basket full of delicious delights that were left for them."

Examine

Students discuss what happened in the game and make adjustments before they play again.
Allow each student involved in playing the game a moment to express how he or she might have produced a change in the facts of the message. Allow suggestions for remembering key facts of the message. Play the game again.

Image

Students consider what life would be like without written language.
Group students. Allow each group of students to invent a way to record and communicate a large amount of information in a given passage. A different passage may be given to each group. Students will need to then present the information to another group using no written communication.

Inform

Students learn the concepts and history of the Inca people.
The teacher will use a variety of instructional methods to teach concepts of the Inca people. The section entitled, "The Inca Empire" under the article The Llamas, the Incas, Peru and the Andes is presented to the students. Most curriculums and textbooks include standard social studies content on this topic.

Practice

Students are checked for understanding of concepts and vocabulary by the teacher.
The students complete puzzles, reviews, and quizzes.

Extend

Students apply what they have learned.

Quipus

Tying knots to record information. Working in small groups, each group makes a Quipus to record information they determine and incorporate into a play they write about the Inca people.
Click here for Quipus Project Directions

Refine

Students complete and refine their projects.
The teacher reviews student group progress on the project and the play. Also make suggestions for enhancing the work already completed.

Integrate

Students share what they have learned.
Students present the play to the class (or other classes). Students exhibit and interpret their Quipus.