The Great Lakes
By Kelly Ward
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Coaches
3 -
Michigan
4 -
History of the Lakes
6 -
Lake Huron
10 -
Lake Huron
11 -
Lake Ontario
12 -
Lake Michigan
14 -
Lake Erie
16 -
Lake Superior
18 -
Wildlife
20 -
Comprehension Questions
23 -
Sources
24
Happy Reading
Here are your coaches! Millie will help enrich your knowledge by providing more information about the page you just read. Dilly will help you to pronounce words and think about your thinking!
Michigan is a very unique state. It is known as the Mitten State due to its shape and it has a peninsula. There are five lakes that surround Michigan, they are known as the Great Lakes.
The lakes touch many different states including Minnesota, New York, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and the country of Canada.
In 1615 a French explorer, and one of the greatest navigators , Samuel de Champlain, is generally credited as the first European to discover the Great Lakes and put them on a map.
The Great Lakes are also known to be the nation’s fourth seacoast. They hold about one-fifth of the world’s surface fresh water. There are 4,530 miles of United States coastline .
H.O.M.E.S is a way to help remember the names of all the Great Lakes: Lake Huron, Lake Ontario, Lake Michigan, Lake Erie, and Lake Superior. Each lake has its own special features that makes it important to the state of Michigan.
Lake Huron
Lake Huron has the longest shoreline and is the thrid largest lake. Lake Huron was originally called La Mer Douce, or "the freshwater sea," by the French explorers.
Lake Huron and Lake Michigan are joined together by the Straits of Mackinac.
Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is the smallest of the Great Lakes, its name comes from the Iroquois word for "a beautiful lake." It is at the base of Niagra Falls in Canada and filled with history of commerce and trade due to forts built by the French in the early 17th and 18th centuries. All of the Great Lakes flow into Lake Ontario.
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is the third largest of the lakes. The name comes from an Ojibwa Indian word mishigami which means "large lake". There are many major cities that touch this wonderful lake including: Chicago, Milwaukee, and Green Bay.
There are 59 lighthouses on the beaches of Lake Michigan due to the hundreds of years of shipping.
Lake Erie
Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake. The lake was named by the Iroquois from the word erielhonan which means "long tail".
The natural outflow from the lake is from the Niagara River, which connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, which provides hydroelectric power to Canada and the United States.
Lake Superior
Lake Superior is the largest of the lakes and is one of the world's largest bodies of fresh water. Its name come from the French Lac Supérieur, meaning "Upper Lake".
It is the deepest lake and holds the most water, enough water to fill the other Great Lakes plus Lake Erie three times over.
Wildlife
The Great Lakes are home to more than 3,500 plants and animals, some only found here. Millions of birds pass through the region during their migrations .
There are many different species that live in Michigan’s lakes including more than 170 different species of fish.
A once endangered species, the piping plover is now populating the shorelines of the Great Lakes once again.
Comprehension Questions
- What are the names of the five Great Lakes?
- How did the glaciers form the lakes?
- Do you think Lake Ontario should belong to Canada since it doesn't touch the state of Michigan? Explain.
- How do you think the French explorers found their way to the Great Lakes?
- www.michigan.gov
- http://mentalfloss.com/article/74674/10-deep-facts- about-great-lakes
- https://www.glc.org/lakes/
- https://www.britannica.com/place/Lake-Superior-lake-North-America#/media/1/574353/3870
- https://www.livescience.com/34571-lake-ontario.html
- http://www.famous-explorers.com/famous-french-explorers/samuel-de-champlain/
- https://eekwi.org/nature/habitat/lakesuperior.htm
- http://techalive.mtu.edu/meec/module08/GreatLakesPastandPresent.htm
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