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6th grade · Science · Unit 6 of 7

Climate & Climate Change

What shapes climate, and why Earth is warming.

What your child practices

Practices how sunlight, oceans, latitude and large lakes shape regional climates, the evidence for why Earth's average temperature is rising, and ways to reduce it, with how a warming climate is changing Minnesota's winters.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 6E.1.1.1.3; 6E.3.2.1.3 · the causes of the rise in global temperatures, and ways to lessen human impact

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Climate is the average weather of a place over many years.
  2. Greenhouse gases trap heat near Earth's surface.
  3. The ocean absorbs some CO₂, which makes seawater more acidic.
  4. Renewable energy cuts emissions, and plants store carbon from the air.

Example: How do prairie grasses and trees help fight climate change? Plants take in carbon dioxide to make food. They store that carbon. Answer: they store carbon from the air

Climate & Climate Change in Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 6 of 7 in 6th grade Science, after Earth's History & Fossils and before Resources & 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: 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

    Minnesota's winters have been warming over the past century. One sign is that many lakes now…

    • turn salty
    • freeze later and thaw earlier
    • never thaw
    • freeze in July

  2. Question 2

    Sea level rises as Earth warms because…

    • rain stops
    • fish drink less
    • the moon pulls harder
    • ice melts and water expands

  3. Question 3

    Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere…

    • trap heat near Earth's surface
    • cool Earth
    • make oxygen
    • block all sunlight

  4. Question 4

    Forests help slow climate change because trees…

    • take in carbon dioxide
    • make heat
    • block rain
    • give off carbon dioxide only

  5. Question 5

    Minnesota has a continental climate, with cold winters and warm summers, because it is…

    • on the equator
    • far from any ocean
    • next to the Pacific
    • on a high mountain

  6. Question 6

    Which helps a community adapt to more heat waves?

    • Remove trees
    • Pave more parking lots
    • Close all parks
    • Plant shade trees and open cooling centers

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