Worksheet

Why River Valleys? A Geography Council Debate

Grade 6 geography: judge a student council debate on why the first cities grew in river valleys, using latitude, longitude, rainfall and a described map.

Grade 6Social StudiesInteractive · Printable

Aligned toGEO.6.1

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Single worksheet
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1 C3 Framework standard
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11 questions
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Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 6
Subject: Social Studies
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students use latitude, longitude and rainfall data to compare four early river-valley sites.
Students explain how river water and a warm climate together supported the first cities.
Students weigh evidence on both sides of a debate and write a claim with reasoning.

How to use

Read the minutes aloud as a mock council, with two students reading Priya's and Jonah's lines. Then have students use the table and map notes on their own before writing a final claim.

Curriculum

C3 Framework standard covered

GEO.6.1

Use maps, latitude and longitude, and climate information to explain why the first civilizations grew in river valleys.

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Name Date

Why River Valleys? A Geography Council Debate

Weigh two arguments with a climate table, latitude and longitude, and a described map.

The debate

Read the council minutes. Then answer the questions.

Minutes: Westfield Geography Council, Meeting 4

1The Geography Council at Westfield Middle School met on March 4 to debate this motion: "The first civilizations grew in river valleys mainly because rivers supplied water in dry lands." Chair Rosa Delgado shared a climate table and map notes for four sites where early cities grew. Each side gave an opening argument and one rebuttal.

2Priya Natarajan spoke for the motion. "Look at the rain column," she said. "Geographers often say that growing wheat or barley with rain alone takes roughly 10 inches of rain a year or more. Memphis gets about 1 inch. Ur and Mohenjo-daro get only a few inches. In places like these, rain could not grow grain, but the rivers could. Each year the Nile flooded and left behind a layer of dark silt, and Sumerian farmers dug canals to carry Euphrates water to their fields."

3Jonah Whitfield spoke against the motion. "Rivers matter, but they are not the whole story," he said. "The Lena River in Siberia is one of the longest rivers in the world, yet it is frozen for much of the year, and no early civilization grew beside it. Now check the latitudes. All four sites lie in a warm band between about 27° and 36° north, where crops can grow for many months of the year. Rivers can also be dangerous. The Huang He has flooded so often and so badly that it was nicknamed 'China's Sorrow.'"

4In her rebuttal, Priya answered, "Warmth alone does not feed a city. The Sahara lies at about the same latitude as Memphis, and few people have ever lived in its open sands. As for floods, people who learned to predict and control them turned a danger into a gift."

5"Then people deserve credit, too," Jonah replied. "A river did not dig canals or build earth banks by itself. Farmers had to plan, work together and keep track of the floods year after year. Water was the raw material, but a warm climate and human effort turned it into a civilization."

6Before the vote, the chair asked every delegate to write a final claim using evidence from the minutes, the table and the map notes.

What is Priya's main argument in paragraph 2?

A. Rain fell often enough at three sites to grow plenty of grain.
B. Rivers were dangerous, so cities grew where floods were rare.
C. Warm weather let crops grow for many months each year.
D. Rivers supplied water for crops where too little rain fell.

Why does Jonah mention the Lena River in paragraph 3?

A. To show that a river in a cold climate did not lead to early cities
B. To show that long rivers led to larger cities than short rivers did
C. To show that northern rivers flooded more often than southern ones
D. To show that Siberia got more rain than the four sites in the table

Circle the sentence from paragraph 4 that gives evidence against Jonah's point about warm latitudes.

Warmth alone does not feed a city.The Sahara lies at about the same latitude as Memphis, and few people have ever lived in its open sands.As for floods, people who learned to predict and control them turned a danger into a gift.

Jonah warns that rivers can be dangerous. Which action by early farmers would best show that they adapted to this danger?

A. Moving their villages out into the desert
B. Building earth banks to hold back floodwater
C. Waiting for rainy years before they planted
D. Planting seeds while the fields were underwater

Check the table and map

Use the climate table and the map notes.

Four River-Valley Sites (modern climate averages, rounded)
Site	Latitude, longitude	Yearly rain	Hottest-month high	River
Memphis, Egypt	30°N, 31°E	about 1 in	about 95°F	Nile
Ur, Sumer	31°N, 46°E	about 5 in	about 115°F	Euphrates
Mohenjo-daro, Indus	27°N, 68°E	about 4 in	about 110°F	Indus
Anyang, China	36°N, 114°E	about 22 in	about 90°F	Huang He

Council map notes
• The Nile flows north through Egypt and empties into the Mediterranean Sea. Memphis sits beside the river.
• The Euphrates flows southeast and empties into the Persian Gulf. Ur sits near the river in the far south.
• The Sahara lies just west of the Nile Valley.
• The Huang He flows east across northern China toward the sea.

Word bank: Memphis · Ur · Mohenjo-daro · Anyang

Of the four sites, the one farthest from the equator is .

Use the table and paragraph 2. At which site could farmers most likely grow some grain with rain alone?

A. Ur
B. Mohenjo-daro
C. Anyang
D. Memphis

A boat leaves Memphis and floats with the river's current to the sea. Based on the map notes, which way does it travel, and which sea does it reach?

A. South, to the Mediterranean Sea
B. Southeast, to the Persian Gulf
C. North, to the Mediterranean Sea
D. South, to the Persian Gulf

Which two sites lie at almost the same latitude but about 15 degrees of longitude apart?

A. Memphis and Ur
B. Memphis and Anyang
C. Mohenjo-daro and Ur
D. Ur and Anyang

Sort each piece of evidence by the side of the debate that used it as support.

Memphis gets about 1 inch of rain a year.The Lena River is frozen for much of the year.Few people have lived in the Sahara, at Memphis's latitude.The four sites lie between about 27° and 36° north.Each year the Nile flood left dark silt on the fields.The Huang He was nicknamed "China's Sorrow."

Priya: river water was the key	Jonah: climate and other factors mattered too

Make your claim

Use evidence from both sides.

10.

Which conclusion fits the evidence from BOTH sides of the debate best?

A. Rain, not river water, fed the crops at most of the four sites.
B. River water and a long, warm growing season worked together.
C. Warm latitudes explain the four sites better than the rivers do.
D. The rivers explain the sites, and climate made no difference.

11.

Write your final claim for the council: why did the first civilizations grow in river valleys? Give at least two pieces of evidence from the minutes, the table or the map notes, and explain how they support your claim.