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6th grade · Social Studies · Unit 4 of 9

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.

Maine Learning Results learning standard: Geography 2; History 1 · how rivers and land shaped where the first civilizations grew

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Early civilizations grew by rivers: Mesopotamia (Tigris and Euphrates, today's Iraq), Egypt (Nile), India (Indus), China (Yellow River).
  2. Landforms shaped them: mountains and seas split Greece into city-states; mountains and deserts kept China apart.
  3. The Mediterranean Sea made trade and travel easy.

Example: Why did ancient Greece form many city-states instead of one kingdom? Look at Greece's land. Mountains and seas split it into small regions. Answer: Mountains and seas divided the land.

Where Civilizations Grew in Maine

In the Maine Learning Results, this is unit 4 of 9 in 6th grade Social Studies, after First Farmers and before Mesopotamia & Egypt.

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: Maine Department of Education

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 Tigris and Euphrates flooded unpredictably. How did Mesopotamian farmers manage the water?

    • They dug irrigation canals and built up banks called levees
    • They moved to the mountains every spring
    • They waited for rain instead
    • They farmed only on rafts

  2. Question 2

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

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

  3. Question 3

    Ancient Rome grew up on hills beside which river?

    🏛️
    • the Tiber
    • the Indus
    • the Nile
    • the Huang He

  4. Question 4

    Which civilization is each feature from? Sort them.

    Sort into: 🐘 Indus Valley · 🌴 Mesopotamia · 🐉 Ancient China (Shang)

    • 🧵silk woven from silkworm thread
    • 🏘️planned cities like Mohenjo-daro
    • 🦴oracle bones with early Chinese writing
    • 🏙️Sumerian city-states like Ur
    • 🧱cuneiform pressed into clay tablets
    • 🚰brick-lined drains along the streets

  5. Question 5

    Which body of water made trade and travel easy for the Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans?

    ⛵
    • the Caspian Sea
    • the Mediterranean Sea
    • the Pacific Ocean
    • the Arctic Ocean

  6. Question 6

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

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

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