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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 9 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.Why did many nations in the East grow corn, beans and squash together?
  • A.The plants help each other grow, and together they make a healthy diet
  • B.They needed no water or sun
  • C.They were the only plants allowed by law
2.Before horses came, what did dogs pull for Plains peoples?
  • A.Wagons on iron rails
  • B.Mail carts
  • C.Loads on wooden frames called travois
3.How did Ancestral Puebloans adapt to the dry Southwest?
  • A.They built igloos
  • B.They built homes in cliffs and stored water and crops
  • C.They fished for salmon in the ocean
4.Before Europeans brought horses, how did Plains peoples hunt bison?
  • A.From trains
  • B.On horseback with rifles
  • C.On foot, sometimes driving herds over cliffs
5.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
6.How did peoples of the Pacific Northwest use their forests and rivers?
  • A.They herded cattle and horses
  • B.They built adobe pueblos
  • C.They built cedar plank houses and fished for salmon
7.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
8.Why did nations in different regions live in such different homes?
  • A.One ruler told them all what to build
  • B.They all lived in the same kind of home
  • C.Each used the materials and climate of its own land

LessonPrint · D2.Geo.4.3-5 · Set 9 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Life in North America Before 1492

Set 9. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.The plants help each other grow, and together they make a healthy diet
  2. 2.Loads on wooden frames called travois
  3. 3.They built homes in cliffs and stored water and crops
  4. 4.On foot, sometimes driving herds over cliffs
  5. 5.They dug long canals to bring river water to their fields
  6. 6.They built cedar plank houses and fished for salmon
  7. 7.Mississippian people
  8. 8.Each used the materials and climate of its own land

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