Skip to content
LessonPrint

Life in North America Before 1492 is a free printable Grade 3 to Grade 5 social studies worksheet on how nations lived and traded before Europeans arrived, aligned to C3 Framework indicator D2.Geo.4.3-5. 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 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 15 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.

Life in North America Before 1492

D2.Geo.4.3-5

NameDate

Choose the best answer.

1.Which crop, first grown by people in Mexico, spread across much of North America?
  • A.Wheat
  • B.Corn, also called maize
  • C.Rice
2.Which is true of the peoples of North America before 1492?
  • A.They all spoke one language
  • B.No one lived in North America
  • C.There were hundreds of nations with different languages and ways of life
3.Why did nations in different regions live in such different homes?
  • A.Each used the materials and climate of its own land
  • B.One ruler told them all what to build
  • C.They all lived in the same kind of home
4.What did the people of Cahokia build out of earth?
  • A.Brick towers
  • B.Huge mounds, including Monks Mound
  • C.Stone castles with moats
5.Why did many Southwest peoples hold ceremonies for rain?
  • A.Rain was scarce and their crops depended on it
  • B.Rain fell every day there
  • C.They wanted floods
6.How did the Hohokam farm the desert of what is now Arizona?
  • A.They dug long canals to bring river water to their fields
  • B.They waited for snow
  • C.They planted rice in swamps
7.How did peoples of the Pacific Northwest use their forests and rivers?
  • A.They built cedar plank houses and fished for salmon
  • B.They herded cattle and horses
  • C.They built adobe pueblos
8.Cahokia, near today's St. Louis, was a large city around the year 1100. Who built it?
  • A.French fur traders
  • B.Mississippian people
  • C.Spanish settlers

LessonPrint · D2.Geo.4.3-5 · Set 15 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Life in North America Before 1492

Set 15. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.Corn, also called maize
  2. 2.There were hundreds of nations with different languages and ways of life
  3. 3.Each used the materials and climate of its own land
  4. 4.Huge mounds, including Monks Mound
  5. 5.Rain was scarce and their crops depended on it
  6. 6.They dug long canals to bring river water to their fields
  7. 7.They built cedar plank houses and fished for salmon
  8. 8.Mississippian people

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to D2.Geo.4.3-5 of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.