Grade 4 · Social Studies · Unit 2 of 5
The Land and Its People
Prairie, forest, rivers and how people live with them
What your child practises
Saskatchewan's regions, why people settled where they did, the importance of bison, homesteading, and how people deal with cold, wind and dry years.
Saskatchewan Curriculum outcome: DR4.1, DR4.2, RW4.1 · how the land shapes where and how people live, how First Nations and Métis people relate to it, and strategies for meeting environmental challenges
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
What is a dugout?
💧- a hole dug to collect water on a farm
- a type of canoe
- a baseball bench
- a cellar for wheat only
Show answer
a hole dug to collect water on a farm
Hint: Dugouts store rain and snowmelt for animals and gardens.
Question 2
What did many early settlers build for houses because trees were scarce on the prairie?
🏠- sod houses
- igloos
- bamboo huts
- glass towers
Show answer
sod houses
Hint: Blocks of prairie sod (soil held by grass roots) made thick walls.
Question 3
How did the land affect where people settled in Saskatchewan?
🌾- most settled in swamps only
- most settled in the south where the soil is good for farming
- most settled on bare rock
- the land did not matter
Show answer
most settled in the south where the soil is good for farming
Hint: The deep prairie soil is good for farming, so more people settled there.
Question 4
Why did towns grow up along the railway lines?
🚂- no one liked roads
- trains grew crops
- trains brought people and took grain to market
- trains were quiet
Show answer
trains brought people and took grain to market
Hint: A grain elevator and a station often marked a new town.
Question 5
What is a shelterbelt?
🌳- a kind of fence for goats
- a belt for tools
- a type of tent
- rows of trees planted to slow the wind and protect soil
Show answer
rows of trees planted to slow the wind and protect soil
Hint: Shelterbelts help protect crops, farmyards and soil from strong winds.
Question 6
Why do many northern communities in Saskatchewan rely on fishing, trapping and forestry?
🎣- the north has only deserts
- the north has no water
- the north has no animals
- the north has lakes and forest
Show answer
the north has lakes and forest
Hint: The boreal forest and lakes shape the work and food of northern communities.