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4th grade · Social Studies · Unit 7 of 10

The Erie Canal

Roads, canals, steam and wires

What your child practices

Moving west after the Revolution, corduroy roads and turnpikes, the Erie Canal (opened 1825) and the towns that grew along it, its effect on the Haudenosaunee, and steamboats, railroads, the telegraph and later ways to travel and communicate.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 4.6; 4.6a; 4.6b; 4.6c · westward movement in New York, the Erie Canal, and how new transportation and communication changed communities

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. After the Revolution, many New Yorkers moved west for farmland.
  2. The Erie Canal (1825) linked the Hudson River with Lake Erie, making shipping much cheaper and faster.
  3. Towns grew along it. Later, steamboats, railroads and the telegraph sped things up.

Example: The Erie Canal connected the Hudson River with which lake? The canal is named after the lake. It is Lake Erie. Answer: Lake Erie

The Erie Canal in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 7 of 10 in 4th grade Social Studies, after Freedom & Rights and before Making & Earning in New York.

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: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

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

    How did the Erie Canal change shipping?

    • It made shipping slower.
    • It moved goods only by air.
    • It stopped all trade.
    • It made moving goods much cheaper and faster.

  2. Question 2

    Locks on the Erie Canal were used to…

    • make electricity
    • catch fish
    • keep boats closed up
    • raise and lower boats

  3. Question 3

    Early roads made of logs laid side by side were called…

    • highways
    • turnpikes
    • corduroy roads
    • railroads

  4. Question 4

    After the Revolution, why did many New Yorkers move west within the state?

    • to escape the ocean
    • to find gold in the mountains
    • to find land for farming
    • to join the Dutch

  5. Question 5

    Canal boats were pulled along by…

    • mules and horses walking on a towpath
    • steam trains
    • sailors swimming
    • airplanes

  6. Question 6

    New York City's first subway line opened in…

    • 1990
    • 1904
    • 1825
    • 1776

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