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Gains and Strains of Acting Together is a free printable Grade 3 to Grade 5 social studies worksheet on benefits and challenges of working together, aligned to Common Core standard D2.Civ.6.3-5. It prints 8 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 10 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

Gains and Strains of Acting Together

D2.Civ.6.3-5

NameDate

Circle the best answer.

1.Why did the canal company cut charges rather than each boatman alone?
  • A.Charges cannot change
  • B.Boatmen were lazy
  • C.The company set the tolls, so only it could change them
2.Eighty-four boatmen signed one petition. What did working together gain them?
  • A.It was quicker to write
  • B.One document carried more weight than 84 separate complaints
  • C.It saved paper
3.A county council pools rates from many villages. What is the benefit?
  • A.Villages too small to build a school alone can share the cost
  • B.Villages get bigger
  • C.Rates go down
4.What is the challenge of pooling rates?
  • A.Counting is hard
  • B.Money raised in one village may be spent in another
  • C.Money is heavy
5.Farmers sending milk by rail together. What is the benefit?
  • A.A full wagon costs less per churn than a part-full one
  • B.Milk keeps longer
  • C.Cows work harder
6.What does the petition show about acting together and losing?
  • A.It never works
  • B.It always works
  • C.Acting together does not guarantee success, but it leaves a record
7.What was hard about the boatmen acting together?
  • A.They had to agree what to ask for, and some wanted different things
  • B.They could not write
  • C.They lived far apart
8.What is the challenge of farmers acting together?
  • A.Cows disagree
  • B.Milk is heavy
  • C.They must all get their milk to the station at the same hour

LessonPrint · D2.Civ.6.3-5 · Set 10 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Gains and Strains of Acting Together

Set 10. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.The company set the tolls, so only it could change them
  2. 2.One document carried more weight than 84 separate complaints
  3. 3.Villages too small to build a school alone can share the cost
  4. 4.Money raised in one village may be spent in another
  5. 5.A full wagon costs less per churn than a part-full one
  6. 6.Acting together does not guarantee success, but it leaves a record
  7. 7.They had to agree what to ask for, and some wanted different things
  8. 8.They must all get their milk to the station at the same hour

More practice for D2.Civ.6.3-5

Describe what people gain from working together, and what is hard about it.

Teaching this next? What Acting Together Costs is the 45-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 3 to Grade 5 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to D2.Civ.6.3-5 of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.