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6th grade · Social Studies · Unit 10 of 14

North America Before Contact

Moundville, Cahokia and other nations

What your child practices

Major Indigenous societies of North America before European contact: the Mississippian mound builders of Moundville and Cahokia, Ancestral Puebloans, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, nations of the Great Plains, and the nations of the Southeast, many of which are living nations today.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 6.1 · major Indigenous societies of North America before European contact

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Land and climate shaped each nation's foods, homes and clothing.
  2. Mississippian peoples built large earthen mounds at Moundville and Cahokia. Trade moved shells, copper and stone far.
  3. Many farmed the Three Sisters: corn, beans and squash. The Haudenosaunee united under the Great Law of Peace.

Example: What is a large Mississippian mound center in Alabama? Its name includes the word mound. It is near Tuscaloosa. Answer: Moundville

North America Before Contact in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 10 of 14 in 6th grade Social Studies, after Taking Part and before Explorers & Colonizers.

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

    Which nations have homelands in the Southeast, including Alabama?

    • the Aztec and Maya
    • the Muscogee (Creek), Cherokee, Choctaw and Chickasaw
    • the Inca
    • the Vikings

  2. Question 2

    The Mississippian culture is known for building…

    • iron bridges
    • brick skyscrapers
    • large earthen mounds
    • stone castles

  3. Question 3

    Archaeologists learn about Moundville by studying…

    • newspapers from then
    • photographs taken then
    • artifacts and the mounds themselves
    • text messages

  4. Question 4

    Farmers in the dry Southwest used canals and dams to…

    • bring water to their crops
    • stop all rain
    • make ice
    • power factories

  5. Question 5

    Native nations in North America spoke…

    • no languages
    • only Spanish
    • one shared language
    • hundreds of different languages

  6. Question 6

    The Muscogee (Creek) Nation, the Cherokee Nation and the Choctaw Nation today are…

    • parts of Spain
    • gone from history
    • only legends
    • living nations with their own governments

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