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6th grade · Social Studies · Unit 2 of 8

Minnesota's Land & Water

Lakes, rivers, forests and prairie

What your child practices

Minnesota's regions and features: its lakes, the Mississippi headwaters at Lake Itasca, Lake Superior, the prairie, deciduous and coniferous forests, the Iron Range and the neighbors on its borders, and how they shape where people live and work.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 6.3.14.1; 6.3.15.1; 6.5.24.1 · Minnesota's places and regions, how physical features and resources affect settlement, and how people have shaped the landscape

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Minnesota has lakes, rivers, forests and prairie. Its capital is St. Paul.
  2. The Mississippi River begins at Lake Itasca. The St. Croix forms part of the border with Wisconsin.
  3. Canada is to the north. The northeast is coniferous forest; the south and west were prairie.

Example: Where does the Mississippi River begin? It starts as a small stream in northern Minnesota. It flows out of a lake. Answer: Lake Itasca

Minnesota's Land & Water in Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 2 of 8 in 6th grade Social Studies, after Sources & Evidence and before Dakota & Anishinaabe Nations.

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 largest city is…

    • St. Paul
    • Minneapolis
    • Duluth
    • Rochester

  2. Question 2

    Which country borders Minnesota to the north?

    • Greenland
    • Mexico
    • Russia
    • Canada

  3. Question 3

    Minnesota's capital is…

    • Duluth
    • St. Paul
    • Minneapolis
    • Bloomington

  4. Question 4

    The open grassland of western and southwestern Minnesota is called…

    • desert
    • rainforest
    • prairie
    • tundra

  5. Question 5

    Minnesota's port city on Lake Superior is…

    • Duluth
    • Rochester
    • Mankato
    • St. Cloud

  6. Question 6

    Water from northern Minnesota flows to three different places: the Gulf of Mexico, Hudson Bay and…

    • the Atlantic Ocean, through the Great Lakes
    • the Arctic only
    • the Pacific Ocean
    • nowhere

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