General Aztecs Maya Tocuaro Kids Contact 19 Mar 2024/2 Death
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HOT TIP
The WINNERS are...
The WINNERS are...
St. Stephen’s CE Primary, Twickenham and Ottershaw CE Junior, Surrey. Congratulations!
Map showing where the Aztecs and Maya lived

2015 - Year of Mexico in the UK and the UK in Mexico

To play our part in this special cultural exchange ‘Dual Year’ between our two countries, we launched a year-long competition in primary schools focussing on what most impresses children about the Aztecs and the Maya. We received HUNDREDS of entries! Read on... (Written by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)

Just SOME of the entries we received during 2015...
Just SOME of the entries we received during 2015... (Click on image to enlarge)

Throughout 2015 we asked schools that we work with to name up to 3 things that most impress them about ancient Mexico/Mesoamerica, and to try to answer as creatively as possible a simple question (below). They were then entered into a free competition for the most creative and original contribution.
After sifting through all the entries - and we had some crackers - our team chose as favourite answer this one from St. Stephen’s CE Primary School in Twickenham*.

The winning entry. Genius...!
The winning entry. Genius...! (Click on image to enlarge)

In answer to the question ‘‘If there’s one thing the Aztecs or the Maya could have taught us, it’s.........’ a pupil from class 5EG wrote: to build temples because - no offence to the queen - but buckingham palace would be much cooler if it was a massive temple She’ll go far...!*
Now, how about someone out there turning this idea into a picture...?

Posters on Ancient Mexico by Yr 5, Ottershaw Junior School
Posters on Ancient Mexico by Yr 5, Ottershaw Junior School (Click on image to enlarge)

HOWEVER we were also hugely impressed by the splendid range of colourful, informative and well researched posters made by Year 5 pupils at Ottershaw CE Junior School in Surrey. So they are joint winners!
here are just a few of the other answers we received:-
• ‘never to give up, I think this because the Mayans never gave up when challenges faced them’
• ‘how to fight in what they believe in’
• ‘underground reservoirs the size of a football pitch which they built to preserve water’
• ‘loving the family and eating a healthy diet. The healers were the important part of the Mayan community. They believed in natural cycles of life and death’
• ‘healing with nature’
• ‘how to use natural materials to make weapons’
• ‘how to get horns and feathers from animals without killing them’
• ‘how to live a calm and civilised life with no technology!’
• ‘how to make music out of anything we’ve got’
• ‘they treated body and soul as one’
• ‘how to keep rubber bouncy’

*Lucy from 5EG, St. Stephen’s CE Primary School in Twickenham receives a beautiful hand drawn codex page for her school from the Mexican Consul, Sr. Aníbal Gómez Toledo, March 2016
*Lucy from 5EG, St. Stephen’s CE Primary School in Twickenham receives a beautiful hand drawn codex page for her school from the Mexican Consul, Sr. Aníbal Gómez Toledo, March 2016 (Click on image to enlarge)

[You can download a PDF of the entry form below.
Entries can be on or off the downloadable entry form, can be hand written/drawn, any size/shape/format, prepared on computer or anything else, and can include graphics. Have fun! And consider using this as a creative homework task, especially as follow-up to one of our team visits...

T’s & C’s:-
• No limit to the number of entries per school
• Entries MUST involve the ideas and thoughts of children at the school
• Teachers at the school are encouraged to work with the children to develop ideas but parents and others outside the school are not allowed to influence entries
• The decision of members of Mexicolore’s Panel of Experts will be final
• Winners will be announced in the first week of January 2016
.]

Dawn Winsor and Charlotte Rowsell receive codex bark paper drawings by Dinorah Lejarazú as prizes for Ottershaw School
Dawn Winsor and Charlotte Rowsell receive codex bark paper drawings by Dinorah Lejarazú as prizes for Ottershaw School (Click on image to enlarge)

This article was uploaded to the Mexicolore website on Jan 04th 2016

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