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2nd grade · Social Studies · Unit 10 of 10

Seasons of the Land

Maple sugar, wild rice and life through the year

What your child practices

Daily life for Dakota and Anishinaabe people through the seasons, before European contact and today: maple sugaring in spring, gardens and berries in summer, wild rice in late summer and fall, and hunting and ice fishing in winter.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 2.4.18.1; 2.5.25.2; 2.4.21.1 · daily life for Dakota and Anishinaabe peoples in different times, their relationships to land and water, and the seasons

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. The Dakota and the Anishinaabe are nations whose homelands include Minnesota.
  2. Life follows the seasons: maple sap in spring, berries in summer, ice fishing in winter.
  3. Maple sap runs best when days are warm and nights are freezing.

Example: Which season comes after winter? The seasons go winter, spring, summer, fall. Answer: spring

Seasons of the Land in Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 10 of 10 in 2nd grade Social Studies, after Work, Saving & Resources.

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: Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

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

    In late summer, many Anishinaabe families harvest wild rice from…

    • a canoe on the lake
    • a cave
    • a tall tree
    • the desert

  2. Question 2

    Many families still harvest wild rice and make maple sugar…

    • today
    • only in other countries
    • only in stories
    • never

  3. Question 3

    Long ago, many families moved with the seasons to…

    • visit a mall
    • go to school
    • find food in each place
    • ride trains

  4. Question 4

    In early spring, many Dakota and Anishinaabe families tap maple trees to make…

    • juice from rocks
    • maple sugar and syrup
    • bread
    • cheese

  5. Question 5

    People fished through holes in the ice in…

    • fall only
    • never
    • winter
    • summer

  6. Question 6

    In winter, many Dakota families long ago lived in tipis covered with…

    • metal
    • hides
    • glass
    • paper

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