5th grade · Social Studies · Unit 3 of 11
Nations Before 1500
Pueblos, plains, coasts and woodlands
What your child practices
Nations of the desert Southwest, the Pacific Northwest coast, the Great Plains and the eastern woodlands: how geography shaped their homes, food, trade and governments. Light, in the present tense, with nations as living communities today.
California Content Standards learning standard: 5.1.1; 5.1.3 · how geography and climate shaped how the major pre-Columbian nations lived, and their varied economies and systems of government
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
Many nations governed themselves through…
- kings chosen by Europe
- councils of leaders and elders
- no rules at all
- elections run by Congress
councils of leaders and elders
Hint: Systems of government varied by nation.
Question 2
Adobe is a building material made of…
- ice blocks
- redwood planks
- sun-dried mud and straw
- steel
sun-dried mud and straw
Hint: It keeps homes cool in desert heat.
Question 3
Many Pueblo nations, such as the Hopi and Zuni, live today in…
- Florida
- Alaska
- Maine
- Arizona and New Mexico
Arizona and New Mexico
Hint: They are among the oldest communities in the US.
Question 4
After Spanish horses spread north, many Plains nations…
- became sailors
- built cliff dwellings
- hunted buffalo on horseback
- stopped hunting
hunted buffalo on horseback
Hint: Horses changed Plains life in the 1700s.
Question 5
Cahokia, near today's St. Louis, was a large city built by the…
- Inca
- Romans
- Mississippian culture
- Vikings
Mississippian culture
Hint: It had huge earthen mounds.
Question 6
The Navajo (Diné) Nation, the largest reservation in the US, is in…
- Hawaii
- New England
- the Great Lakes
- the Southwest
the Southwest
Hint: It spreads across three states.