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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 24 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.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
2.Country A sends timber and takes machine tools. Why not make both?
  • A.Machines cannot be made from timber
  • B.Each produces one thing more cheaply and trades for the other
  • C.Trade is compulsory
3.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
4.Why can a country import food and still be well fed?
  • A.Farms are illegal
  • B.It earns more from what it does best and buys food with the proceeds
  • C.Food is free abroad
5.What does the ban on reselling protect?
  • A.Each country's share of a scarce supply it specialised away from making
  • B.The ships
  • C.The price of labour
6.Why did rebuilding need specialists in short supply?
  • A.Training was banned
  • B.Bricklaying and building take years to learn and could not be improvised
  • C.Anybody can lay bricks
7.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.Ships sink
  • C.Forests burn
8.What happens to a specialised industry when its one buyer withdraws?
  • A.Nothing happens
  • B.It has nowhere else to sell and its workers have one skill
  • C.It changes overnight

LessonPrint · D2.Eco.4.3-5 · Set 24 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Timber One Way, Tools the Other

Set 24. Prints on its own sheet.

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

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.