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

LessonPrint · D2.Geo.9.3-5 · Set 18 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Wreck, Fever and Failed Harvest

Set 18. Prints on its own sheet.

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

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.