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 24 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.How did the Hohokam farm the desert of what is now Arizona?
  • A.They waited for snow
  • B.They planted rice in swamps
  • C.They dug long canals to bring river water to their fields
2.Cahokia, near today's St. Louis, was a large city around the year 1100. Who built it?
  • A.Spanish settlers
  • B.Mississippian people
  • C.French fur traders
3.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
4.Why did nations in different regions live in such different homes?
  • A.They all lived in the same kind of home
  • B.Each used the materials and climate of its own land
  • C.One ruler told them all what to build
5.How did peoples of the Pacific Northwest use their forests and rivers?
  • A.They built adobe pueblos
  • B.They herded cattle and horses
  • C.They built cedar plank houses and fished for salmon
6.Which crop, first grown by people in Mexico, spread across much of North America?
  • A.Corn, also called maize
  • B.Wheat
  • C.Rice
7.Before horses came, what did dogs pull for Plains peoples?
  • A.Mail carts
  • B.Wagons on iron rails
  • C.Loads on wooden frames called travois
8.Why did many nations in the East grow corn, beans and squash together?
  • A.They were the only plants allowed by law
  • B.The plants help each other grow, and together they make a healthy diet
  • C.They needed no water or sun

LessonPrint · D2.Geo.4.3-5 · Set 24 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Life in North America Before 1492

Set 24. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.They dug long canals to bring river water to their fields
  2. 2.Mississippian people
  3. 3.There were hundreds of nations with different languages and ways of life
  4. 4.Each used the materials and climate of its own land
  5. 5.They built cedar plank houses and fished for salmon
  6. 6.Corn, also called maize
  7. 7.Loads on wooden frames called travois
  8. 8.The plants help each other grow, and together they make a healthy diet

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