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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 4 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.

Life in North America Before 1492

D2.Geo.4.3-5

NameDate

Choose the best answer.

1.About how many people may have lived in Cahokia at its largest?
  • A.Perhaps 10,000 to 20,000
  • B.About 10 million
  • C.About 50
2.Which crop, first grown by people in Mexico, spread across much of North America?
  • A.Wheat
  • B.Corn, also called maize
  • C.Rice
3.What did the people of Cahokia build out of earth?
  • A.Stone castles with moats
  • B.Huge mounds, including Monks Mound
  • C.Brick towers
4.Why did many nations in the East grow corn, beans and squash together?
  • A.They were the only plants allowed by law
  • B.They needed no water or sun
  • C.The plants help each other grow, and together they make a healthy diet
5.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
6.Why did many Southwest peoples hold ceremonies for rain?
  • A.Rain fell every day there
  • B.Rain was scarce and their crops depended on it
  • C.They wanted floods
7.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
8.Before Europeans brought horses, how did Plains peoples hunt bison?
  • A.On horseback with rifles
  • B.From trains
  • C.On foot, sometimes driving herds over cliffs

LessonPrint · D2.Geo.4.3-5 · Set 4 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Life in North America Before 1492

Set 4. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.Perhaps 10,000 to 20,000
  2. 2.Corn, also called maize
  3. 3.Huge mounds, including Monks Mound
  4. 4.The plants help each other grow, and together they make a healthy diet
  5. 5.Mississippian people
  6. 6.Rain was scarce and their crops depended on it
  7. 7.They dug long canals to bring river water to their fields
  8. 8.On foot, sometimes driving herds over cliffs

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