Alabama Social Studies SS24.3.2c
The Standard
- SS24.3.2
- Explain how geographic features, including land regions and river systems, connect Alabama to other states.
Identify major river systems of Alabama and their points of origin, including the Alabama, Black Warrior, Cahaba, Chattahoochee, Coosa, Mobile, Perdido, Tallapoosa, Tennessee, and Tombigbee Rivers.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students find Alabama's major rivers on a map and trace each one upstream to where it begins. They identify the state or river junction where each starts.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student labels all ten rivers and marks their starting points on a map that includes nearby states. They show that the Alabama begins where the Coosa and Tallapoosa meet, and the Mobile begins where the Alabama and Tombigbee meet.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may mark the Gulf of Mexico as a river's starting point because that is where it ends. They may assume every river starts inside Alabama or that a river keeps the same name after two rivers join.
How to Assess It
- Give students a map showing the Coosa, Tallapoosa, Alabama, Tombigbee, and Mobile rivers. Ask them to circle where the Alabama and Mobile rivers begin and name the two rivers that meet at each circle.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Lay blue yarn on a map of Alabama and nearby states to trace all ten rivers, then place colored dots where each begins.
Show a map of the Alabama and Mobile rivers and ask, 'Why do these rivers begin where other rivers meet?'
Match ten river-name cards to ten starting-point cards, then check each pair against a labeled map.
Use a road map to trace the Chattahoochee from its north Georgia headwaters to the Alabama border.
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Printable SS24.3.2c Worksheet
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Related Standards
- SS24.3.2b
Describe the geographic features and natural resources of Alabama regions, including the Alabama Ridge and Valley, Black Belt, Cumberland Plateau, Highland Rim,...
- SS24.AS.1
Identify the location of Alabama’s major geographic regions and describe the characteristics that distinguish them from each other.
- SS24.AS.6
Identify the locations of the major Native American tribes of Alabama during the colonial period into the nineteenth century.
- SS24.3.2
Explain how geographic features, including land regions and river systems, connect Alabama to other states.
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