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Timber One Way, Tools the Other is a free printable Grade 3 to Grade 5 social studies worksheet on why countries specialise and then trade, aligned to Common Core standard D2.Eco.4.3-5. 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 17 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.

Timber One Way, Tools the Other

D2.Eco.4.3-5

NameDate

Circle the best answer.

1.Why do bricklayers not also design the buildings?
  • A.An architect's training does that faster and better, so both trade
  • B.Design is forbidden
  • C.Bricklayers cannot draw
2.Country A sends timber and takes machine tools. Why not make both?
  • A.Trade is compulsory
  • B.Machines cannot be made from timber
  • C.Each produces one thing more cheaply and trades for the other
3.What happens to a specialised industry when its one buyer withdraws?
  • A.It has nowhere else to sell and its workers have one skill
  • B.It changes overnight
  • C.Nothing happens
4.Why did rebuilding need specialists in short supply?
  • A.Training was banned
  • B.Anybody can lay bricks
  • C.Bricklaying and building take years to learn and could not be improvised
5.Why can a country import food and still be well fed?
  • A.It earns more from what it does best and buys food with the proceeds
  • B.Farms are illegal
  • C.Food is free abroad
6.What is the risk in Country A relying on timber exports?
  • A.If demand for timber falls it has one export and no other
  • B.Forests burn
  • C.Ships sink
7.What does the agreement need before specialising is safe?
  • A.A guarantee of supply, which is why prices are fixed for five years
  • B.A common currency
  • C.A shared language
8.What does the ban on reselling protect?
  • A.The ships
  • B.The price of labour
  • C.Each country's share of a scarce supply it specialised away from making

LessonPrint · D2.Eco.4.3-5 · Set 17 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Timber One Way, Tools the Other

Set 17. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.An architect's training does that faster and better, so both trade
  2. 2.Each produces one thing more cheaply and trades for the other
  3. 3.It has nowhere else to sell and its workers have one skill
  4. 4.Bricklaying and building take years to learn and could not be improvised
  5. 5.It earns more from what it does best and buys food with the proceeds
  6. 6.If demand for timber falls it has one export and no other
  7. 7.A guarantee of supply, which is why prices are fixed for five years
  8. 8.Each country's share of a scarce supply it specialised away from making

More practice for D2.Eco.4.3-5

Explain why people and businesses each do one thing and then trade.

Teaching this next? Timber One Way, Tools the Other is the 55-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 3 to Grade 5 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to D2.Eco.4.3-5 of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.