Skip to content
LessonPrint

Why They Stayed and Why They Moved is a free printable Grade 3 to Grade 5 social studies worksheet on why population is distributed as it is, aligned to Common Core standard D2.Geo.6.3-5. 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 18 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

Next setLesson plan

One paper per pupil

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425

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

Why They Stayed and Why They Moved

D2.Geo.6.3-5

NameDate

Circle the best answer.

1.What would you need to explain a district's population change properly?
  • A.The weather
  • B.The district's name
  • C.Where the work was and where the new homes were built
2.Why did some villages lose people in this period?
  • A.Farms were banned
  • B.Villages are cold
  • C.Work and new housing were both concentrated in the cities
3.Why do people stay in a damaged district?
  • A.They cannot travel
  • B.Work, family and the cost of moving all hold them there
  • C.They are not told
4.Why does a district with cleared land not automatically fill first?
  • A.Nobody wants it
  • B.Materials and labour also have to be allocated to it
  • C.Cleared land is unsafe
5.Why were new estates built on the edges of cities?
  • A.Centres were forbidden
  • B.Edges are prettier
  • C.Cleared central land was limited and edge land was available
6.Why did a family live four to a room rather than move?
  • A.Moving was banned
  • B.There was nowhere else within reach of the work
  • C.They preferred it
7.Why did people crowd into cities after 1946 despite the damage?
  • A.Villages were closed
  • B.Cities are warmer
  • C.The work was there, and rebuilding itself created more of it
8.What made building upward attractive in some cities and not others?
  • A.How much land was left, and whether the city could spread
  • B.Local taste in bricks
  • C.The height of the hills

LessonPrint · D2.Geo.6.3-5 · Set 18 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Why They Stayed and Why They Moved

Set 18. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.Where the work was and where the new homes were built
  2. 2.Work and new housing were both concentrated in the cities
  3. 3.Work, family and the cost of moving all hold them there
  4. 4.Materials and labour also have to be allocated to it
  5. 5.Cleared central land was limited and edge land was available
  6. 6.There was nowhere else within reach of the work
  7. 7.The work was there, and rebuilding itself created more of it
  8. 8.How much land was left, and whether the city could spread

More practice for D2.Geo.6.3-5

Describe why people live where they live.

Teaching this next? Why They Stayed and Why They Moved 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.Geo.6.3-5 of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.