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6th grade · Social Studies · Unit 4 of 9

Alaska's Physical Regions

Mountains, forests, permafrost, seasons and tides

What your child practices

Alaska's physical regions (mountain ranges, the Arctic coastal plain, boreal forest, temperate rainforest and delta lowlands), permafrost, and how Earth's tilt, the sun and the moon give Alaska its long summer days, polar nights and big tides.

Alaska content standards learning standard: SS.6.1.18.4; SS.6.1.20.1; SS.6.1.20.2 · the physical regions of Alaska, how the local environment affects people, and how the earth, sun, moon, tides and seasons interact

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Far north of the Arctic Circle, as at Utqiaġvik, the sun stays below the horizon for weeks in winter.
  2. The Interior has boreal forest of spruce, birch and aspen. Permafrost is frozen ground; when it thaws, roads and houses sink.
  3. In spring breakup, river ice cracks and flows away. Fall storms hit coasts before sea ice forms.

Example: Why can thawing permafrost damage houses? Permafrost is ground full of ice. When the ice melts, the ground sinks and shifts. Answer: The ground sinks and shifts as the ice melts.

Alaska's Physical Regions in Alaska

In the Alaska content standards, this is unit 4 of 9 in 6th grade Social Studies, after Time & Evidence and before Earthquakes, Volcanoes & Hazards.

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: Alaska Department of Education and Early Development

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

    The flat, treeless land between the Brooks Range and the Arctic Ocean is the…

    • Arctic coastal plain
    • Copper River Delta
    • Kenai Peninsula

  2. Question 2

    Why are Alaska's summer days so long?

    • Earth is closer to the sun in summer
    • the North Pole is tilted toward the sun
    • the sun moves faster

  3. Question 3

    Why is Southeast Alaska's climate milder than the Interior's?

    • it has no mountains
    • it is closer to the equator than Hawaii
    • the nearby ocean keeps temperatures steady

  4. Question 4

    The Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta is a wide, wet lowland in which region?

    • the Far North
    • Southwest
    • Southeast

  5. Question 5

    Which mountain range stretches across northern Alaska?

    • the Brooks Range
    • the Alaska Range
    • the Chugach Mountains

  6. Question 6

    Why do Interior summers get warmer than coastal summers at the same latitude?

    • there are no clouds inland
    • the Interior is closer to the sun
    • land heats up faster than water

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