Skip to content
LessonPrint

Disasters That Moved Americans is a free printable Grade 3 to Grade 5 social studies worksheet on how disasters such as the Dust Bowl moved Americans, aligned to C3 Framework indicator D2.Geo.9.3-5. It prints 6 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 13 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

Next set

One paper per student

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425

Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

Disasters That Moved Americans

D2.Geo.9.3-5

NameDate

Read the text and answer the questions, then circle the best answers.

1.Look at the source, then answer the questions.

The Dust Bowl

An information text written for this worksheet. In the 1910s and 1920s farmers plowed up millions of acres of grassland on the southern Great Plains to plant wheat. The deep roots of the prairie grass had held the soil in place. In the 1930s a long drought struck. With no grass and no rain, strong winds lifted the dry soil into huge clouds of dust. On April 14, 1935, a storm called Black Sunday turned day into night across the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles. Crops failed, animals died, and many families lost their farms because they could not pay the banks. About 2.5 million people left the Plains states in the 1930s. Many traveled west on Route 66 to California. In California many found only low-paid work picking crops, and some were treated as unwelcome outsiders. Government workers planted rows of trees as windbreaks on farms, and the government paid farmers to plow in ways that kept the soil from blowing away.

  1. 1. When was Black Sunday?
  2. 2. How were many of the migrants treated in California?
  3. 3. Why did the soil blow away in the 1930s?
  4. 4. How did the government try to keep the soil from blowing away again?
2.In 1900 a hurricane struck Galveston, Texas, killing thousands. What did the city build afterward?
  • A.A tall seawall, and it raised the ground the city stood on
  • B.A new airport
  • C.A canal to the Pacific Ocean
3.Why do disasters often cause people to move?
  • A.Homes, farms and jobs can be destroyed
  • B.The government always orders everyone to move
  • C.People like to move after storms
4.What is a migrant?
  • A.A person who moves from one place to another, often for work
  • B.A person who never leaves home
  • C.A kind of storm
5.In 1927 the Mississippi River flooded huge areas of the South. What did many Black farm families do afterward?
  • A.Stayed on the flooded land forever
  • B.Moved north to cities such as Chicago
  • C.Moved to Alaska to mine gold
6.In 1889 a dam failed above Johnstown, Pennsylvania. What happened?
  • A.A flood destroyed the town and killed more than 2,000 people
  • B.The town got more water for its farms
  • C.Nothing, because the dam was empty

LessonPrint · D2.Geo.9.3-5 · Set 13 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Disasters That Moved Americans

Set 13. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. April 14, 1935. 2. Many found only low-paid work, and some were treated as unwelcome outsiders. 3. The grass that held the soil had been plowed up, and a long drought dried it out. 4. Government workers planted trees as windbreaks, and it paid farmers to plow in ways that kept the soil in place.
  2. 2.A tall seawall, and it raised the ground the city stood on
  3. 3.Homes, farms and jobs can be destroyed
  4. 4.A person who moves from one place to another, often for work
  5. 5.Moved north to cities such as Chicago
  6. 6.A flood destroyed the town and killed more than 2,000 people

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