6th Grade Geography Based on E.D. Hirsch's "What Your 6th Grader Needs to Know These questions are copyright 1997 Karen Crowther and are not endorsed nor sponsored by the Core Curriculum Foundation nor E.D. Hirsch. They are brought to you as a public service by Redwood Games (http://www.maui.net/~redwood/hs.html) You may use them for personal use provided you do not remove this notice and provided you do not distribute them. GEOGRAPHY 6 ASSIGN #1 ===================== _______Read p 84-top of 88 Is Greenland larger or smaller on a flat map than it is on the real earth? ______________________ Why is Alaska bigger on a flat map than on a globe? _______________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ Which part of a projected map are most accurate? ___________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ What is a mapmaker called? ____________________________________ How did Mercator make his makes? ___________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ Alaska looks bigger than Mexico on a flat map. Is it? _____________ The United States looks bigger than Mexico on a flat map. Is it? _________ What are the good and useful things you can tell from a flat map? 1.___________________________________________________ 2.__________________________________________________ What can't you trust on a flat map? ____________________________________________________________________________ Describe the other types of maps besides the Mercator: 1.__________________________________________________________________________ 2.__________________________________________________________________________ GEOGRAPHY 6 ASSIGN #2 ===================== _______Read p 88-94 What defines a desert? _____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ What are the winter and summer temperature ranges for a "cold desert"? ____________________________________________________________________________ Are all hot deserts sandy? ____________ Why or Why not? ____________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ Are all deserts lifeless? ______ Explain: __________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ How does an Acacia tree adapt to desert conditions? ________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ How does a jackrabbit adapt to the desert? _________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ What purpose do spines serve? ______________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ How does a camel adapt to the desert? ______________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ Name some large deserts and tell which country they are in: 1____________________________________________________________________________ 2____________________________________________________________________________ 3____________________________________________________________________________ 4____________________________________________________________________________ 5____________________________________________________________________________ 6____________________________________________________________________________ 7____________________________________________________________________________ 8____________________________________________________________________________ 9____________________________________________________________________________ 10____________________________________________________________________________ 11____________________________________________________________________________ 12____________________________________________________________________________ 13____________________________________________________________________________ 14____________________________________________________________________________ 15____________________________________________________________________________ 16____________________________________________________________________________ 17____________________________________________________________________________ Where are most deserts found? _______________________________________________ What are 2 reasons that deserts form at the above locations? ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ Hot air holds [more,less] air than cold air. Hot air [rises, sinks]. Where do the hot air masses from the equator usually sink to provide rain? ____________________________________________________________________________ Describe the process that causes deserts to form at about 30 degrees latitude. ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ Are there usually clouds over deserts? ________ Why does a lack of cloud cover make it cold at night? _______________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ Are hot deserts usually hot at night? ________ What besides the major air mass movement from the equator makes deserts? 1._________________________________________________________________________ 2._________________________________________________________________________ 3._________________________________________________________________________ What activities do people do that contribute to the formation of deserts? 1._________________________________________________________________________ 2._________________________________________________________________________ 3._________________________________________________________________________ Name some areas that are now deserts that used to be good growing land before people ruined them: 1._________________________________________________________________________ 2._________________________________________________________________________ GEOGRAPHY 6 ASSIGN #3 ===================== Pick a desert plant or animal and report on how it lives, what it eats and what special ways it has adapted to its desert climate.