Grade 8 · Science · Unit 8 of 9
Wind, Water & Ice Shape the Land
Glaciers, rivers, dunes and the prairie landscape
What your child practises
Weathering, erosion and deposition; features made by glaciers (moraines, eskers, erratics, kettle lakes), rivers (valleys, floodplains, deltas) and wind (dunes), with Saskatchewan examples such as the Qu'Appelle Valley and the Athabasca sand dunes.
Saskatchewan Curriculum outcome: WS8.2 · how wind, water and ice have shaped and continue to shape the Canadian landscape
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
What was Glacial Lake Agassiz?
🌊- a huge lake formed by melting glacial ice
- a mountain range
- a desert
- a type of rock
Show answer
a huge lake formed by melting glacial ice
Hint: It once covered land in parts of Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
Question 2
A dune in the Athabasca region slowly moves with the wind. What does this show?
🏜️- landscapes are still changing today
- landscapes never change
- water cannot move sand
- only ice changes land
Show answer
landscapes are still changing today
Hint: Wind, water and ice keep shaping land.
Question 3
About how long ago did the last glaciers melt from Saskatchewan?
⏳- only a few years ago
- more than ten thousand years ago
- last week
- last century
Show answer
more than ten thousand years ago
Hint: The glaciers have been gone for thousands of years.
Question 4
Why do plants and grasses help protect soil?
🌱- they dry the soil to dust
- they melt ice
- they make the wind stronger
- roots hold it in place against wind and water
Show answer
roots hold it in place against wind and water
Hint: Bare soil blows or washes away more easily.
Question 5
What is a kettle lake?
🫖- a lake made by wind
- a lake in a hollow left by a melted block of ice
- a lake in a crater
- a lake made by a volcano
Show answer
a lake in a hollow left by a melted block of ice
Hint: Big blocks of ice buried in till melted and left hollows.
Question 6
Which one shaped it: wind, flowing water or glacier ice? Tap a feature, then tap its basket.
Sort into: 💨 wind · 🌊 flowing water · 🧊 glacier ice
- 🌊a delta
- 🌾a floodplain
- 🏜️sand dunes
- 🧊an esker
- 🪨an erratic boulder
- 🌬️dust blown into a drift
Show answer
💨 wind: sand dunes, dust blown into a drift · 🌊 flowing water: a delta, a floodplain · 🧊 glacier ice: an esker, an erratic boulder
Hint: Wind builds dunes. Flowing water cuts valleys and builds deltas. Glaciers leave moraines, eskers and large boulders called erratics.