Major U.S. Landforms

Supplied materials

• Paper and pencil; drawing or spoken answers are welcome.
• Topic notes: Appalachian Mountains: an eastern U.S. mountain system. Rocky Mountains: a western North American mountain system. Great Plains: a broad grassland region east of the Rocky Mountains. Mississippi River: a major river draining a large U.S. interior basin.
• Original exercise cards: A card locates a mountain system in the eastern United States. / A card locates mountains west of the Great Plains. / A card identifies broad plains east of the Rockies. / A card identifies the river flowing past the central interior toward the Gulf. / A card names the western interior mountain chain. / A card describes the plains of the central interior. / A card names the river joined by the Missouri and Ohio. / A card associates a mountain chain with the eastern states.

Learn the idea

The Appalachian Mountains are in the eastern United States, the Rocky Mountains in the west, the Great Plains between major eastern and western highlands, and the Mississippi River drains a large interior region. These are broad locations; one regional label does not describe every local landscape.

Appalachian Mountains: an eastern U.S. mountain system. Rocky Mountains: a western North American mountain system. Great Plains: a broad grassland region east of the Rocky Mountains. Mississippi River: a major river draining a large U.S. interior basin.

Use the location in the card and notes: eastern mountains, western mountains, plains east of the Rockies or the interior river. Read the notes and the word cards. You can write, draw or say your answer. These are word descriptions of pictures and places; no picture or map is supplied or needed.

1. Read the four notes. Find the words Appalachian Mountains, Rocky Mountains, Great Plains, Mississippi River.
2. Use the location in the card and notes: eastern mountains, western mountains, plains east of the Rockies or the interior river.
3. Read the worked answer. Then try the other cards and explain which words helped you choose.
4. Choose two different examples: one for Appalachian Mountains and one for Rocky Mountains. Explain how their clues differ.

Check your reasoning

Your answer is temporary and is not saved to an account. Download your current answer before leaving or reloading. Written work on paper or in another app stays in your own file.

Take it further

New card: “A card associates a mountain chain with the eastern states.” Match it with a note, then point to or say the words that helped. Check: The card says: “A card associates a mountain chain with the eastern states.” That matches Appalachian Mountains. Appalachian Mountains are an eastern U.S. mountain system.

Nothing here is saved to an account or sent to a teacher. The answer download includes your current choice and any checked feedback. It does not include choices from the separate More practice section. Download that section separately.