Skip to content
LessonPrint

Living With the Land is a free printable Grade 3 to Grade 5 social studies worksheet on how a nation's settlements used local resources, aligned to C3 Framework indicator D2.Geo.8.3-5. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two students in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 16 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

Next set

One paper per student

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425

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

Living With the Land

D2.Geo.8.3-5

NameDate

Read each information text, then answer the questions.

1.Read the information text, then answer the questions.

The Hopi and the Desert Mesas

An information text written for this worksheet. The Hopi live on high, dry mesas in what is now northeastern Arizona. Mesas are flat-topped hills with steep sides. Some Hopi villages, such as Oraibi, have been lived in for more than 800 years. Houses are built of stone and adobe, which is mud mixed with straw. Their thick walls stay cool in the hot sun and hold warmth on cold nights. Very little rain falls, so Hopi farmers plant corn deep in sandy soil, where it can reach water left by melted snow and summer rain. Many fields are at the foot of the mesas, where rainwater runs off the rock. Corn is at the center of Hopi life, in food and in ceremonies. The Hopi Tribe has its own government today.

  1. 1. Why is corn so important to the Hopi?
  2. 2. Why are many fields at the foot of the mesas?
  3. 3. Why do Hopi farmers plant corn deep in the soil?
2.Read the information text, then answer the questions.

The Cherokee and the Southern Mountains

An information text written for this worksheet. The Cherokee homelands were in the mountains and river valleys of the Southeast, in parts of what are now Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and nearby states. The land had rich soil, warm summers and plenty of rain. Cherokee families lived in towns beside rivers and farmed corn, beans and squash in the fertile river valleys. They hunted deer in the forests and gathered nuts and berries. In the early 1820s, a Cherokee man named Sequoyah created a writing system for the Cherokee language, and soon many Cherokee could read and write it. In 1838 and 1839, the United States government forced most Cherokee people from their homelands to land in what is now Oklahoma. Thousands died on the journey, now called the Trail of Tears. Today the Cherokee Nation, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and the United Keetoowah Band each have their own government.

  1. 1. Why did Cherokee towns stand beside rivers?
  2. 2. Why did most Cherokee people leave their homelands in 1838 and 1839?
  3. 3. Why did Cherokee families farm in the river valleys?

LessonPrint · D2.Geo.8.3-5 · Set 16 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Living With the Land

Set 16. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Corn is at the center of Hopi life, in food and in ceremonies. 2. Rainwater runs off the rock there, so the fields get more water. 3. So the corn can reach water left by melted snow and summer rain.
  2. 2.1. The rivers gave water, and the fertile valley land was good for farming. 2. The United States government forced them to leave. 3. The river valleys were fertile, with rich soil and plenty of rain.

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to D2.Geo.8.3-5 of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.