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Wreck, Fever and Failed Harvest is a free printable Grade 3 to Grade 5 social studies worksheet on effects of catastrophic events on settlement, aligned to Common Core standard D2.Geo.9.3-5. 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 pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 11 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.

Wreck, Fever and Failed Harvest

D2.Geo.9.3-5

NameDate

Circle the best answer.

1.A harvest fails across the uplands for three years. What follows?
  • A.Rents fall to nothing
  • B.Families give up their holdings and move to the mills or abroad
  • C.Everybody stays
2.Fever sweeps the mill district. What follows?
  • A.Deaths rise, and pressure grows for piped water
  • B.Wages rise
  • C.The mill expands
3.Why is a wage cut not quite a disaster?
  • A.It reduces a living rather than destroying the means of one
  • B.It affects nobody
  • C.It is over quickly
4.A town's population jumps after a rural disaster. What does that suggest?
  • A.The town grew in area
  • B.People moved from the countryside to the town for work
  • C.More babies were born
5.Three vessels are lost in one year. What follows for the harbour district?
  • A.Families lose their earners, and the board is pressed to build a light
  • B.Nothing changes
  • C.More ships come
6.The mill burns down. What happens to the district?
  • A.Wages rise
  • B.Hands must find work elsewhere or leave the district
  • C.The mill rebuilds itself
7.Who stays after a disaster, and why?
  • A.Nobody at all
  • B.Only the wealthy
  • C.Those with land, family or age that ties them to the place
8.What does the emigration ledger record about such years?
  • A.Passages booked by people whose trade had failed
  • B.Harvest yields
  • C.Ship repairs

LessonPrint · D2.Geo.9.3-5 · Set 11 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Wreck, Fever and Failed Harvest

Set 11. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.Families give up their holdings and move to the mills or abroad
  2. 2.Deaths rise, and pressure grows for piped water
  3. 3.It reduces a living rather than destroying the means of one
  4. 4.People moved from the countryside to the town for work
  5. 5.Families lose their earners, and the board is pressed to build a light
  6. 6.Hands must find work elsewhere or leave the district
  7. 7.Those with land, family or age that ties them to the place
  8. 8.Passages booked by people whose trade had failed

More practice for D2.Geo.9.3-5

Work out how a disaster changes where people live and where they move.

Teaching this next? Wreck, Fever and Failed Harvest is the 50-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 3 to Grade 5 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to D2.Geo.9.3-5 of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.