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 17 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. Why did many families lose their farms?
  2. 2. How did the government try to keep the soil from blowing away again?
  3. 3. Which road did many families take to California?
  4. 4. What does this text not tell you about the families who stayed?
2.In 2005 Hurricane Katrina flooded most of New Orleans when the levees failed. What happened to many residents?
  • A.They moved to the flooded areas
  • B.They moved to cities such as Houston, and many never returned
  • C.They all returned the next day
3.In 1889 a dam failed above Johnstown, Pennsylvania. What happened?
  • A.A flood destroyed the town and killed more than 2,000 people
  • B.Nothing, because the dam was empty
  • C.The town got more water for its farms
4.After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, where did many families who had lost their homes live for months?
  • A.In new skyscrapers built that week
  • B.In tents and camps set up in the city's parks
  • C.On ships sailing to Japan
5.In 1900 a hurricane struck Galveston, Texas, killing thousands. What did the city build afterward?
  • A.A new airport
  • B.A canal to the Pacific Ocean
  • C.A tall seawall, and it raised the ground the city stood on
6.Why did many families rebuild San Francisco after 1906 instead of leaving?
  • A.It was the nation's capital
  • B.Its harbor made it too important a port to abandon
  • C.The earthquake had made the land flat

LessonPrint · D2.Geo.9.3-5 · Set 17 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Disasters That Moved Americans

Set 17. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Crops failed and animals died, so they could not pay the banks. 2. Government workers planted trees as windbreaks, and it paid farmers to plow in ways that kept the soil in place. 3. Route 66. 4. It does not tell you how the families who stayed on the Plains got through the drought.
  2. 2.They moved to cities such as Houston, and many never returned
  3. 3.A flood destroyed the town and killed more than 2,000 people
  4. 4.In tents and camps set up in the city's parks
  5. 5.A tall seawall, and it raised the ground the city stood on
  6. 6.Its harbor made it too important a port to abandon

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