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7th grade · Social Studies · Unit 4 of 14

Where Civilizations Grew

Rivers, mountains and seas

What your child practices

How geography shaped Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley and Shang China along their rivers, plus Greece, Rome and the Maya. Includes a reading passage about the Nile flood.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 7.5; 7.6 · how river valleys and new technology led to the first cities

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Early civilizations grew along rivers: water, rich soil from floods and easy travel.
  2. Deserts, mountains and seas could protect a land from invaders or link it to trade.
  3. Ask: what did the land give people, and what problem did they have to solve?

Example: Egypt had desert on both sides of the Nile. How did the desert help? Deserts are hard to cross. Armies would struggle to reach Egypt. So the desert protected Egypt from invaders. Answer: It made it hard for invaders to reach Egypt

Where Civilizations Grew in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 4 of 14 in 7th grade Social Studies, after First Farmers and before Mesopotamia.

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

    How did the deserts on each side of the Nile help Ancient Egypt?

    🏜️
    • They supplied fresh drinking water
    • They were full of forests for timber
    • They provided rich farmland
    • They made it hard for invaders to reach Egypt

  2. Question 2

    Which civilization is each feature from? Sort them.

    Sort into: 🐘 Indus Valley · 🐉 Ancient China (Shang) · 🐊 Ancient Egypt

    • 🏯the earliest Chinese dynasty with written records
    • 🔺pyramids built as royal tombs
    • 👑pharaohs who ruled as god-kings
    • 🦴oracle bones with early Chinese writing
    • 🏘️planned cities like Mohenjo-daro
    • 🛁a large public pool called the Great Bath

  3. Question 3

    Where did the Maya civilization develop?

    🌽
    • In the Andes mountains of South America
    • In Mesoamerica: southern Mexico and parts of Central America
    • In the Fertile Crescent
    • In the Nile Valley

  4. Question 4

    The Indus Valley civilization was located in present-day…

    • China and Mongolia
    • Iraq and Syria
    • Pakistan and northwest India
    • Egypt and Sudan

  5. Question 5

    Greece has little flat farmland but a long coastline. How did this shape Greek life?

    ⛵
    • Many Greeks became sailors, traders and fishers
    • Greeks grew rice in large paddies
    • Greeks lived only in deserts
    • Greeks never used boats

  6. Question 6

    The northern Maya lowlands had few rivers on the surface. Where did people get water?

    • From desalinated seawater
    • From the Nile
    • From melting glaciers
    • From cenotes (natural sinkholes) and stored rainwater

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