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3rd grade · Social Studies · Unit 4 of 10

Alabama's Rivers

Where Alabama's rivers start and flow

What your child practices

Alabama's major rivers (Alabama, Black Warrior, Cahaba, Chattahoochee, Coosa, Mobile, Perdido, Tallapoosa, Tennessee and Tombigbee), where they begin and end, and how rivers shaped towns and trade.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 3.2 · Alabama's major river systems, their points of origin and how they connect Alabama to other states

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. A river’s source is where it begins. Its mouth is where it ends.
  2. The Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers join to form the Mobile River, which flows into Mobile Bay.
  3. Dams on the Tennessee River make electricity and lakes.

Example: What is the place where a river begins called? The mouth is where it ends. The start is the source. Answer: its source

Alabama's Rivers in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 4 of 10 in 3rd grade Social Studies, after Alabama's Land Regions and before Parks, Symbols & Landmarks.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Why did many towns grow up along rivers?

    • boats were not allowed
    • rivers gave water, food and a way to move goods
    • rivers had no fish
    • rivers kept people away

  2. Question 2

    Tuscaloosa was built on the banks of the…

    • Tennessee River
    • Chattahoochee River
    • Black Warrior River
    • Perdido River

  3. Question 3

    Dams on the Tennessee River make…

    • snow
    • electricity and lakes
    • mountains
    • deserts

  4. Question 4

    The point where a river begins is called its…

    • source
    • mouth
    • delta
    • bank

  5. Question 5

    The Black Warrior River joins the Tombigbee River near…

    • Dothan
    • Gadsden
    • Demopolis
    • Huntsville

  6. Question 6

    Which river flows through Birmingham's area, south to the Alabama River?

    • Chattahoochee River
    • Perdido River
    • Tennessee River
    • Cahaba River

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