Maya Civilisation (Mayans) Reading Comprehension

The ancient Maya (Mayans) at three reading levels – cities, farming, roads, glyphs and calendars, Pakal’s tomb, the abandoned southern cities and the Spanish conquest – with questions for each level, a timeline, a Maya numbers page, fact-or-opinion and vocabulary work, and full answers. Print-ready PDF, 12 pages.

“Mayan civilization c. AD 900” is one of the three non-European societies that KS2 history can study. This pack lets the whole class read about the Maya together, with each child working at the right level.

What’s included (12-page A4 PDF):

• Teacher notes with a level guide, National Curriculum links and a “key facts at a glance” table
• Level 1 (about 190 words, word bank): Mesoamerica, cities and pyramids, maize and chocolate, calendars, glyphs, zero and the ball game – 8 questions, including true/false
• Level 2 (about 240 words, word bank): the Classic period, city-states, raised roads and tumplines, farming methods, glyphs, codices and the two calendars – 8 questions
• Level 3 (about 320 words): Pakal and the discovery of his tomb, why the southern cities were abandoned (and why experts disagree), the Spanish conquest and how we know about the Maya – 7 questions, including true/false
• Maya timeline: put 8 events from c. 2000 BC to 1952 in order, with 4 questions
• Maya numbers: read and write numbers with dots, bars and the shell for zero, plus two Maya sums
• Maya words: match 6 words to their meanings; sort 8 sentences into fact or opinion; write your own opinion
• Answers and marking guidance for every question

The history is checked against BBC Bitesize KS2 History (the Maya civilisation pages on who the Maya were, farming, food, inventions, Pakal the Great and what happened to the Maya) and Wikipedia’s articles on K’inich Janaab Pakal, the Classic Maya collapse, the Spanish conquest of the Maya, Maya codices and Maya numerals. Where experts disagree (why the southern cities were abandoned), the text says so. Dates marked “c.” are approximate.

Name/date line on question pages. British English spelling. Clear, dyslexia-friendly font (Andika). Simple original illustrations.

This resource was created with AI assistance (Claude), then fact-checked and proofread in a separate review pass.