Printable Scholar
Alaska State Report Kit
Everything a student needs to research and write a report on Alaska: the reading, the maps and the pages to fill in. Nothing else to look up.
- 3 reading pages: Alaska fun facts, History, and Land and Work
- 5 maps: landmarks, cities, borough, outline, and rivers and lakes
- An 8-page My State Report booklet, from fast facts to a trip plan and a license plate to design
- A pennant to cut out and hang, two map skills sheets and a 10-question reading quiz
- Answer keys for the quiz, the fast facts and the map sheets
- One print-ready PDF, 23 pages, black and white, US Letter
Teaching all 50 states? Get every kit for $39.
Look inside
Read it, map it, write it.
The reading pages and maps hold every answer the booklet asks for. About one third of the booklet is looking things up. The rest asks students to choose, plan and explain.
What is in the Alaska kit
To read and study
- Alaska fun facts: six short true stories, By the Numbers and Did You Know
- History: the state’s story in order, with a timeline, people to know and words to know
- Land and Work: the land and climate, what the state grows, makes and mines, and how one leads to the other
- Five maps, including a rivers, lakes and neighbors map with a letter key
To fill in and make
- My State Report booklet: cover, Fast Facts, My Map, State Symbols, My Trip, Think Like a Geographer, Design a License Plate and Dig Deeper
- A pennant with the state’s name and outline, to color, cut out and hang
- Name the Cities and Name the Rivers and Lakes sheets, each with a word bank
- A 10-question reading quiz, with answer keys for everything that has one right answer
Free: the Alaska History reading page
One page on the history of Alaska for grades 3 to 5, free to print in color or black and white. It is the second reading page in the kit.
The First Peoples
People have lived in Alaska for more than 10,000 years. The Inupiat and Yupik lived along the northern and western coasts. They hunted seals, walrus and whales. Athabascan peoples lived in the forests of the Interior. The Aleut, or Unangax, lived on the Aleutian Islands. The Tlingit and Haida lived in the rainy southeast. They carved totem poles from cedar. The nations traded with each other and sometimes fought.
Russian America
In 1741, a Russian ship led by Vitus Bering reached Alaska. Russian fur traders followed, looking for sea otter furs to sell in China. The traders made Aleut men hunt the otters for them. In the 1760s, Aleut fighters attacked the traders and destroyed ships. The Russians struck back and won. In 1784, Russians built the first lasting colony on Kodiak Island. Russian priests built churches, and many Native people joined the Orthodox church.
The Alaska Purchase
In 1867, Russia sold Alaska to the United States. William Seward, the Secretary of State, made the deal. In 1880, Joe Juneau and Richard Harris found gold with help from a Tlingit chief. The town of Juneau grew where they found it. Canneries opened along the coast to pack salmon.
Gold Rush Days
In 1896, gold was found in the Klondike, in Canada next door. Thousands of stampeders landed at Skagway in 1897 and 1898. They hauled their gear over steep passes. More gold turned up at Nome in 1899 and Fairbanks in 1902. Miners built towns, roads and river docks. Juneau became the capital in 1906. Congress made Alaska a territory in 1912. The Alaska Railroad was finished in 1923, and Anchorage began as its tent camp.
War and Statehood
In 1942, during World War II, Japan bombed Dutch Harbor and took the islands of Attu and Kiska. American soldiers won back Attu in a hard battle in 1943. Japan left Kiska soon after. The government moved Aleut families from their islands to camps in the southeast. Soldiers also built the Alaska Highway through Canada. Alaska became the 49th state on January 3, 1959. In 1964, a huge earthquake shook Anchorage.
Oil and Native Land
Oil was found at Prudhoe Bay in 1968. A pipeline would cross land that Native groups claimed. In 1971, Congress passed a law that gave Alaska Native groups about 44 million acres and almost one billion dollars. Native-owned corporations run the land and money. The pipeline was finished in 1977. Alaska has more than 200 tribes today, and Native people live all across the state.
Alaska through time
- 1741 Bering’s ship reaches Alaska
- 1784 Russians settle Kodiak Island
- 1867 United States buys Alaska
- 1880 Gold is found at Juneau
- 1902 Gold is found at Fairbanks
- 1923 Alaska Railroad is finished
- 1942 Japan attacks the Aleutians
- 1959 Alaska is the 49th state
- 1977 Oil pipeline is finished
People to know
- Alexander Baranov: Led Russian America from Sitka.
- William Seward: Made the deal to buy Alaska.
- Felix Pedro: Found the gold that started Fairbanks.
- Elizabeth Peratrovich: Tlingit leader for equal rights.
- Susan Butcher: Won the Iditarod sled dog race four times.
Free Alaska maps
Each of these maps is free to print on its own page. The kit puts them in one file with the reading pages and the booklet.