Midwest Study Guide
Many agricultural resources can be grown in Michigan including: strawberries, wheat, corn, potatoes, cherries, peaches. Other products include maple syrup, dairy products, livestock (pigs, cows, even bison and deer). Many kinds of fish can be found in the Great Lakes and the many other rivers and lakes throughout the state. Michigan is also a top producer of lumber (trees) for furniture, paper, and Christmas trees!
Be able to MATCH the state's name to the shape on the map. Capitals that CORRECTLY MATCH the state's name and shape will earn BONUS points!
Other resources found in the Midwest and Michigan are natural resources such as coal, copper, iron, natural gas, and oil.
Geography: The Midwest region sits between the Appalachian Mountains and the Rocky Mountains. Thousands of years ago, huge glaciers flattened out the land and carved out giant holes. When the glaciers melted, they filled the holes with water forming thousands of lakes including the Five Great Lakes: Huron, Ontario (not in Midwest), Michigan, Erie, and Superior (HOMES).
Much of the Midwest consists of the Interior and Great Plains. With the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio Rivers flowing through the Midwest, the interior plains are full of rich, fertile soil making agriculture one of the largest industries in the region.
Sadly, what makes the Midwest so great, also does some harm further south in the country. Fertilizers and other chemicals used on the Midwest farms run into the Mississippi river down to the Gulf of Mexico creating a "dead zone" at the mouth of the Mississippi where no wildlife can survive.
The three most produced crops in the Midwest are wheat (which is ground into flour for baking), corn (used for many food products like corn meal, corn bread, corn flakes, as well as other products like paints, oils, and ethanol), and soybeans (used for food products high in protein, paints, and oils).
Because of the large amount of wheat produced in the Midwest, the area is often called "America's Breadbasket". Wheat is exported to many countries including Japan, Mexico, Djibouti, and Nigeria.
People of the Midwest: The first people of the Midwest were Native Americans from tribes such as the Ojibwa (Chippewa), Odawa, and Potawatomi (The Three Fires) and Lakota plains Indians. Some were mound builders like the Huron tribe.
Fur trade and Westward expansion caused many people to migrate from the east coast into the Midwest looking for jobs, farmland, and a better life (Polish, Germans, Dutch, Italians, Irish, Norwegian, Czecholslovakians...) Many African Americans came to the Midwest first through the "Underground Railroad" and later during the "Great Migration", again looking for jobs and a better life than in the south.
Famous author Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain wrote many novels and stories based on his experiences along the Mississippi River in the Midwest. Some of his works include: Hucklberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, and a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.
Climate in the Midwest: Warm Spring and Fall; Hot summers; Cold, snowy winters; Severe storms (snow in winter and rain in summer) including Tornadoes especially through the "Tornado Alley".
