Natural Resources
Cross-Curricular Focus: History/Social Sciences

People often have decided where they wanted to live based on the natural resources that were available in the area. Natural resources are things that are useful to people and come from the earth. Materials for building shelter are natural resources. So are food sources such as
fruits and vegetables, animals that could be caught or hunted and water.
A region’s climate and landforms let certain things grow in different areas. They also determine which organisms will be able to survive there. Regions with very rich soil make good farming communities. Poor soil may send farmers looking for better conditions. However, areas with poor soil may attract those who have other purposes for the land. Poor soil doesn’t matter if you want to build a factory or if the land has grass for ranching.

Name:
Answer the following questions based on the reading passage. Don’t forget to go back to the passage whenever necessary to ﬁnd or conﬁrm your answers.

1) Think about the natural resources near you. What are the things that made your family decide to live where you do?

2) What is a renewable resource?

Each area attracts people based on their interests and purposes.           	 Areas that support many different interests will naturally have larger
populations. While you may not think of the mountains, lakes, or oceans as natural resources, they are. Villages and cities built near water

sources have been the most successful. People who want to catch ﬁsh for a living can do that by the ocean, but cannot in the desert. People living near water can use it to meet their daily needs. Water can also be used to transport goods to other areas to be sold.
Places that are difﬁcult to reach will naturally have fewer people living in them. Places that are high on mountain tops are not very

3) Give some examples of shelter.

4) When you become an adult, will you choose to live the same place as your parents did? Why or why not?

desirable to some people. Neither are places that are In the middle of           	
hot, dry deserts.
For too long, humans have destroyed resources. We have been

using up those that cannot be easily replaced. Renewable resources are those that can be replaced easily. We are fortunate to have many resources that are renewable, such as sun, wind, water and trees. We

5) What natural resources are available on the coast that might not be available somewhere else?

need to focus more on using renewable resources. This will protect our        	
planet from further harm.

Natural Resources

Name:

Key

Cross-Curricular Focus: History/Social Sciences

People often have decided where they wanted to live based on the natural resources that were available in the area. Natural resources are things that are useful to people and come from the earth. Materials for building shelter are natural resources. So are food sources such as
fruits and vegetables, animals that could be caught or hunted and water.
A region’s climate and landforms let certain things grow in different areas. They also determine which organisms will be able to survive there. Regions with very rich soil make good farming communities. Poor soil may send farmers looking for better conditions. However, areas with

Answer the following questions based on the reading passage. Don’t forget to go back to the passage whenever necessary to ﬁnd or conﬁrm your answers.
Actual wording of answers may vary.

1) Think about the natural resources near you. What are the things that made your family decide to live where you do?

student’s choice

poor soil may attract those who have other purposes for the land. Poor        	
soil doesn’t matter if you want to build a factory or if the land has grass

for ranching.
Each area attracts people based on their interests and purposes. Areas that support many different interests will naturally have larger populations. While you may not think of the mountains, lakes, or oceans as natural resources, they are. Villages and cities built near water sources have been the most successful. People who want to catch ﬁsh for a living can do that by the ocean, but cannot in the desert. People living near water can use it to meet their daily needs. Water can also be used to transport goods to other areas to be sold.
Places that are difﬁcult to reach will naturally have fewer people living in them. Places that are high on mountain tops are not very desirable to some people. Neither are places that are In the middle of hot, dry deserts.
For too long, humans have destroyed resources. We have been using up those that cannot be easily replaced. Renewable resources are those that can be replaced easily. We are fortunate to have many resources that are renewable, such as sun, wind, water and trees. We need to focus more on using renewable resources. This will protect our planet from further harm.

2) What is a renewable resource?

  a resource that is easily replaced 	

3) Give some examples of shelter.

Example: house, tent, apartment or cave

4) When you become an adult, will you choose to live the same place as your parents did? Why or why not?

  student’s choice 	

5) What natural resources are available on the coast that might not be available somewhere else?

  ocean ﬁsh