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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 9 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.

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. Which road did many families take to California?
  2. 2. When was Black Sunday?
  3. 3. How were many of the migrants treated in California?
  4. 4. What does this text not tell you about the families who stayed?
2.After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, where did many families who had lost their homes live for months?
  • A.In tents and camps set up in the city's parks
  • B.In new skyscrapers built that week
  • C.On ships sailing to Japan
3.In 1927 the Mississippi River flooded huge areas of the South. What did many Black farm families do afterward?
  • A.Moved to Alaska to mine gold
  • B.Moved north to cities such as Chicago
  • C.Stayed on the flooded land forever
4.In 1900 a hurricane struck Galveston, Texas, killing thousands. What did the city build afterward?
  • A.A canal to the Pacific Ocean
  • B.A new airport
  • C.A tall seawall, and it raised the ground the city stood on
5.Which disaster was made worse by the way people used the land?
  • A.A volcano erupting
  • B.An earthquake
  • C.The Dust Bowl, after grassland was plowed up
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 9 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Disasters That Moved Americans

Set 9. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Route 66. 2. April 14, 1935. 3. Many found only low-paid work, and some were treated as unwelcome outsiders. 4. It does not tell you how the families who stayed on the Plains got through the drought.
  2. 2.In tents and camps set up in the city's parks
  3. 3.Moved north to cities such as Chicago
  4. 4.A tall seawall, and it raised the ground the city stood on
  5. 5.The Dust Bowl, after grassland was plowed up
  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.