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4th grade · Social Studies · Unit 4 of 6

Resources & Regions

Farms, energy and the choices limited resources bring

What your child practices

Practices how limited natural resources make people choose how to use them, what farming and energy regions need, how incentives and productivity work, and why different places make different goods and trade.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 4.2.7.1; 4.2.8.1; 4.2.10.1; 4.3.14.2; 4.2.11.1 · limited resources and choices, incentives, productivity, farming and energy regions, and why people trade

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Natural resources are limited, so people must choose how to use them.
  2. An incentive is a reward or cost that changes what people do.
  3. Being productive means making more with the same resources.

Example: A store gives a discount if you bring your own bag. What is this? The discount is a reward. Rewards that change behavior are incentives. Answer: an incentive

Resources & Regions in Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 4 of 6 in 4th grade Social Studies, after World Maps & Globes and before People on the Move.

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

    Southern Minnesota and Iowa grow lots of corn and soybeans because they have…

    • rich soil and summer rain
    • deserts
    • glaciers
    • rainforests

  2. Question 2

    Which is a human resource?

    • A river
    • A skilled worker
    • A forest
    • A coal seam

  3. Question 3

    A capital resource is…

    • money in a piggy bank only
    • a tool or machine used to make goods
    • a city that is a capital
    • a natural lake

  4. Question 4

    Fishing communities are usually found…

    • near lakes, rivers and oceans
    • in deserts
    • on mountaintops
    • far from water

  5. Question 5

    Which helps a farm become more productive?

    • Breaking the tractor
    • Fewer seeds
    • Less water
    • Better tools and machines

  6. Question 6

    A drought makes wheat scarce. Bakers will most likely pay…

    • less for flour
    • more for flour
    • the same forever
    • nothing for flour

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