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

LessonPrint · D2.Geo.9.3-5 · Set 12 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Wreck, Fever and Failed Harvest

Set 12. Prints on its own sheet.

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

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.