Name__________________________
Social Studies
Chapter 8 Study Guide
Lesson 1
Word Bank:
drought
Great Lakes
glaciers
Dust Bowl
corn
Central
tornado
Interior Plains
300
Corn Belt
Great
prairie
ore
Breadbasket
The _______________ ______________________ are flat, fertile plains which cover the
entire Midwest region. The Interior Plains formed thousands of years ago. Glaciers formed the
regions ______________ ________________. They carved out five huge holes in low areas.
The climate warmed and the melted ice from ____________________ slowly filled the holes.
A __________________ is an area of flat or rolling land covered mostly with grasses and
wildflowers. The Midwest region is made up of both the ____________________ Plains and
the _________________ Plains.
When masses of warm air and cold air meet over the Interior Plains, tornadoes can
form. A ___________________ is a funnel-shaped, spinning windstorm. At the center of some
tornadoes, wind speeds can reach more than ___________ miles per hour! Droughts are
another danger in the Midwest. A _________________ is a long period of little or no rain.
Droughts cause soil to dry up. Strong winds blow dry soil away in huge dust storms and the
area became known as the _________________ ____________________.
_____________ is an important crop of the Central Plains. Much of the region has
become known as the ____________ ____________ because the Central Plains are perfect
for growing crops. The Great Plains has a drier climate and its soil is good for growing wheat.
The wheat is used to make flour. The Great Plains are sometimes called America’s
_______________________.
The Midwest has many resources. Workers in the region mine for minerals. __________
is a rock that has one or more kinds of minerals. Much of the nation’s iron ore comes from the
Midwest.
Lesson 2
Word Bank:
survey
tepees
self-sufficient
buffalo
adapt
Great Plains
Sioux
ordinance
pioneer
The ____________ were one of the many different Native American groups in the
Midwest. They fished, hunted, and farmed the land. European settlers came to the area and
many Sioux tribes moved to the Great Plains from the Central Plains. They had to
___________, or change their ways of life, to survive in the new environment. They did not
build permanent villages or farms. They moved from place to place following the buffalo. They
set up _____________ to live in at each place. The Sioux used the _________________ for
most of their needs.
The US government wanted to control settlement of the Northwest Territory. Workers
were first sent to ____________________ the territory. The government then divided the land
into townships. In 1781, Congress passed an __________________ describing how the
territory would be governed.
The government also played a role in the settlement of the _______________
____________________. The Homestead Act of 1862 offered free land to pioneers who
should settle there. A _____________________ is a person who first settles in a new place.
Pioneer families had to be _________________________ -- they had to do almost everything
for themselves.
Lesson 3
Word Bank:
Chicago
entrepreneurs
mass production
migration
Robert Fulton
easier
Henry Ford
stockyards
assembly line
Settlers began to use the rivers of the Midwest for migration to the west.
_______________________ is the movement of people from one place to another. In the late
1700s and early 1800s, _______________ ______________________ and others developed
the steamboat which was powered by a steam engine. Steamboats traveled both upstream
and downstream.
In the mid-1800s, railroad companies were building railroads which helped the region
grow even more. Railroads provided an _____________________ way for settlers to reach the
Midwest. By 1865, ___________________, Illinois had become one of the world’s busiest
railroad centers. It connected ten major railroad lines. The railroad towns attracted
___________________________ or people who start new businesses.
_____________________, a place where livestock is bought, sold, and held before shipment,
were opened in the towns.
______________ _________________ and others helped the automobile industry grow.
In 1913, he set up an assembly line in his Detroit factory. An________________
_____________ is a line of workers along which a product moves as it is put together one step
at a time. It is a form of ______________ _____________________in which a product is made
more quickly and cheaply by using machines.
Label the events in the order in which they happened (1,2,3).
______ Railroads are built across the Midwest.
______ Henry Ford sets up an automobile factory in Detroit.
______ The Sioux live in villages along the rivers and lakes of the Central Plains.
Short Answer: Answer the question below in complete sentences.
What were three ways in which Native Americans of the Great Plains used the buffalo?
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