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Grade 4 Social Studies · World 1: Tools of the Trade · Level 5
Water Highways
Locate the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi River, and the Great Lakes, and explain why they mattered for travel and trade.
Warm-up, learn, try it together, practice, then a quick check. About 15 minutes.
What children learn in Level 5
- Long ago, water was the fastest road around. A boat could carry more than many wagons, so people called rivers and lakes water highways.
- The mighty Mississippi River flows north to south through the middle of the country, for more than 2,300 miles.
- It ends at the Gulf of Mexico, a big body of water south of the United States. New Orleans, near the river's mouth, became a great port, where river boats met ocean ships.
- In the north are the five Great Lakes: Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario. Together they're like an inland sea, and ships still sail them today.
Georgia Standards of Excellence in Social Studies:
- SS4G1.a — Locate major physical features of the United States: the Atlantic Coastal Plain, the Great Plains, the Continental Divide, the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi River, and the Great Lakes.
- MGS.7 — Map and Globe Skill 7: use a map to explain impact of geography on historical and current events (mastered in Grade 4)