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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 25 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.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
2.A town's population jumps after a rural disaster. What does that suggest?
  • A.More babies were born
  • B.People moved from the countryside to the town for work
  • C.The town grew in area
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.Who stays after a disaster, and why?
  • A.Only the wealthy
  • B.Nobody at all
  • C.Those with land, family or age that ties them to the place
5.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
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.A harvest fails across the uplands for three years. What follows?
  • A.Everybody stays
  • B.Families give up their holdings and move to the mills or abroad
  • C.Rents fall to nothing
8.Fever sweeps the mill district. What follows?
  • A.Deaths rise, and pressure grows for piped water
  • B.The mill expands
  • C.Wages rise

LessonPrint · D2.Geo.9.3-5 · Set 25 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Wreck, Fever and Failed Harvest

Set 25. Prints on its own sheet.

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

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.