6th grade Social Studies: how to help at home
What your child learns in 6th grade social studies in the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, and simple things to try at home.
Focus areas this year
- Theme: Minnesota Studies
- Minnesota's land, water and regions
- The Dakota and Anishinaabe and Tribal sovereignty
- Territory, statehood and the US–Dakota War of 1862
- Work, immigration and change, and Minnesota's government
Easy ways to practice social studies at home
- Follow a current event together and ask who is affected and why people see it differently.
- Build a timeline of a family event or a historical topic they are studying.
- Use an atlas or online map to trace a trade or travel route.
- Ask “Whose voice is missing from this story?” when reading about the past.
What each unit covers
Sources & Evidence
Children practice choosing and judging sources, reading artifacts and art, comparing accounts and drawing conclusions from evidence.
Minnesota's Land & Water
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.
Dakota & Anishinaabe Nations
The Dakota and Anishinaabe as living nations: Minnesota's 11 Tribal Nations, what sovereignty means, how treaty rights to hunt, fish and gather are exercised today, wild rice, and how languages are being taught again. Told in the present tense, with nothing sacred or ceremonial.
Fur Trade & Treaties
The fur trade and how Indigenous people, traders and the US Army interacted, Fort Snelling and the enslaved people held there, and the treaties of 1837 and 1851, including the unequal power behind them and the payments that were often late.
Statehood & 1862
How Minnesota became a territory (1849) and a state (1858), Minnesota in the Civil War, and the US–Dakota War of 1862: its causes, the execution of 38 Dakota men in Mankato and the forced removal of Dakota people, seen through more than one perspective.
Work & New Minnesotans
How logging, flour milling, iron mining and farming used Minnesota's resources, and why people have come to Minnesota, from German and Scandinavian immigrants in the 1800s to Hmong and Somali refugees more recently.
Governing Minnesota
The purpose of the Constitution of the State of Minnesota, the Governor, the Legislature and the courts, counties and cities, how people become citizens and vote, and Minnesota's state symbols.
Minnesota Through Time
Putting events in Minnesota's history in order, from Fort Snelling and the treaties through statehood, 1862, industry and immigration to today.
What the report card levels look like at home
- Beginning
- Just getting started with this idea. Short, regular practice with lots of support helps most.
- Approaching
- Understands parts of it and is building confidence. Keep practicing the tricky parts.
- Meeting
- Has it! Mixed review now and then keeps it strong.
- Exceeding
- Applies it confidently, even in new or harder situations. Try challenge mode and real-life problems.
Your child’s teacher decides the level on the report card. Read the Minnesota report card guide.
Common questions
Follow a current event together and ask who is affected and why people see it differently. Build a timeline of a family event or a historical topic they are studying. Keep sessions short, about 10 to 15 minutes, and stop on a success.
The Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards 6th grade social studies units include Sources & Evidence, Minnesota's Land & Water, Dakota & Anishinaabe Nations, Fur Trade & Treaties, Statehood & 1862, Work & New Minnesotans.
Free printable 6th grade social studies practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.