LOOKING BACK AT HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY

Mount Rushmore in South Dakota

Unit Overview

You have learned so many things about history and geography is just a few short weeks. You have studied everything from timelines to landforms. Let’s see what you remember!

Units 1-4

In these units, you learned that time can be measured in days, weeks, months and years. Are you still using your flashcards to review the days of the week and the months of the year? See if you can still put the months and days of the week in their correct order quickly. You also placed dates and years in their correct order on a timeline. Sometimes you looked at pictures to see how different clothes and homes were in earlier times.

Go to Questions 1-5.

Units 5-7

Today many of us use cell phones, texting or email to communicate; we travel quickly by cars, high-speed trains and airplanes. This was not always the case, however. In units 5, 6 and 7, you looked at many inventions that have been replaced or changed through science and technology. You also read about Thomas Edison, a famous inventor. Many of the things we use every day, such as light bulbs, movies and wax paper, are the results of his work. You also learned that Edison was successful because he never gave up and made the best of every situation.

Edison and the electric light bulb

Thomas Edison did much of his work at his factory and laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey. Here Edison and his employees put new ideas into practice.

Go to Questions 6-12

Unit 8

Do you remember reading about Abraham Lincoln? His nickname was “Honest Abe” because he believed honesty and integrity were very important qualities. Mr. Lincoln was President of the United States during the Civil War, a very difficult time in American history. He had to make many hard decisions and is an excellent example of a good leader.

Abraham Lincoln Looking Over the Emancipation Proclamation

Go to Questions 13-15

Units 9 and 10

In these units, you began your study of geography by looking at many different kinds of maps. You quickly learned how important they are when people want to travel from one place to another. Maps use all kinds of symbols to help us find places. These are explained in the map key. A compass rose is another map tool. It keeps us moving in the right direction.

Go to Questions 16-18.

Units 11-15

Many different types of landforms and bodies of water cover the continents of the earth. They influence the ways we eat, dress, work and play. In North America, for example, grasslands called the Great Plains help people earn a living by farming, ranching and packaging food for grocery stores. Would you wear the same clothes in the cold regions of Antarctica as you would in the hot, dry Sahara Desert? Of course, you wouldn't! The landforms in each place change what we wear.

Sometimes landforms make it difficult to travel from one place to another. This happens in the Andes Mountains in South America and on the Tibetan Plateau in Asia. As a result, people need to make meals, clothing and houses from things that they find or grow nearby. In other places, landforms and bodies of water bring people together. They are able to share the art, culture and stories that they have created. Do you remember reading about the peninsulas and rivers in Europe? Because they were able to travel on the waterways, Europeans shared their ways of life and borrowed ideas from one another.

Go to Questions 19-27.

Units 16 and 17

The world's land can be used in many different ways. In rural areas, it provides farms, forests and open spaces. In urban areas, the land is the basis for buildings, businesses and streets. People often change landforms or remove them altogether to make their lives better. Both good and bad things happen as a result. Roads and bridges make our travel safer and faster, but changes in the land can destroy the habitats of black bears, mountain lions and other animals.

Mountain Lion in its Habitat

Go to Questions 28-30.