Free third grade reading comprehension worksheets

How to use these worksheets in class

• Read twice. First for the story, then with a pencil to underline. Third graders who answer from memory after one reading make most of their errors on the multiple-choice items, which are written so that the wrong options are plausible.
• Prove it. For each multiple-choice answer, ask students to write the number of the paragraph that proves it. This one habit does more for comprehension scores than any other.
• Full sentences for the written questions. Questions 5 to 7 on every sheet ask for inference, explanation or sequencing. Insist on a complete sentence that reuses words from the question ("The crow could not reach the water because...").
• Pair fiction with nonfiction. The Lost Kite and Why Leaves Change Color both turn on the wind and the seasons; How Bees Make Honey and The Crow and the Pitcher both show patient, step-by-step work. Reading them as pairs lets students compare how a story and an information text handle the same idea.
• Use the letter for writing. After A Letter from Camp, have students write a reply from Grandpa using the same five parts: date, greeting, body, closing, signature.

Answer key

Every practice sheet carries its own answer key on page 2 of the PDF. The keys are repeated here for quick marking.

• The Lost Kite: Circle the best answer: 1. b) A gust of wind pulled the spool out of his hands. 2. c) In the branches of a tall oak 3. a) a sudden strong rush of wind 4. b) She had watched the park for a long time while drawing. Write your answer in full sentences: 1. He was upset and close to crying because the kite was a birthday present from his grandfather and he thought it was gone. 2. Leo's kite is stuck high in an oak tree. It is solved by waiting: the girl predicts the wind will change after lunch, and the kite blows free. 3. If you watch something patiently for long enough, you learn how it behaves; paying attention and being patient can solve problems that force cannot. Vocabulary: 1. Any sentence using gust correctly, e.g. A gust of wind blew my hat into the road. Draw it: Drawing is open-ended.
• How Bees Make Honey: Circle the best answer: 1. b) A sweet liquid made by flowers 2. c) Chews it for about half an hour 3. b) To dry the water out of the nectar 4. b) goes out to collect nectar Write your answer in full sentences: 1. The house bee changes the sugars so they will not spoil, the bees fan out most of the water, and the cell is sealed with wax. 2. To feed themselves. The hive needs honey to survive the winter, when there are no flowers to visit. 3. Collect nectar from flowers (1), chew the nectar (2), fan the cells (3), seal the cell with wax (4). Draw the four steps as a comic strip: Drawings are open-ended; check the order matches the text.
• The Crow and the Pitcher: Circle the best answer: 1. b) She could not find any water. 2. c) Her beak could not reach the water at the bottom. 3. a) Tipping the pitcher over and breaking it 4. b) drooping and soft Write your answer in full sentences: 1. Each pebble took up space in the pitcher and made the water rise a little, until it was high enough for the crow to reach. 2. Words such as "another, and another", "worked patiently in the heat" and "pebble after pebble" show she kept going. 3. Small steps, repeated patiently, can add up to solve a big problem, even when one big effort fails. Vocabulary: 1. Any sentence using patiently correctly, e.g. She waited patiently for her turn. Draw it: Drawing is open-ended.
• Why Leaves Change Color: Circle the best answer: 1. b) Chlorophyll 2. b) Chemicals that were in the leaf all summer. 3. c) Sunny days and cool nights 4. b) present in large amounts Write your answer in full sentences: 1. The process in which chlorophyll uses sunlight to turn water and air into sugar that feeds the tree. 2. A thin layer of cells grows across the base of the stem and cuts off the water, so the leaf dries out and the wind carries it away. 3. Leaves change color in autumn because the green chlorophyll fades, showing the yellows and oranges that were always there, while reds are made from trapped sugar. Draw and label the same leaf in two seasons: Summer: chlorophyll. Autumn: yellow/orange from carotenoids, red/purple from trapped sugar.
• A Letter from Camp: Circle the best answer: 1. c) Nina 2. b) Homesick 3. b) Sam kept steering in circles. 4. c) Grandpa's pet Write your answer in full sentences: 1. Greeting: "Dear Grandpa," Closing: "Love, Nina". 2. Because Grandpa had pointed out the Big Dipper to her on the porch last summer, and the counselor did the same thing. 3. The canoe lesson (Tuesday), the rainstorm (Wednesday), the star hike (last night), the talent show (tomorrow). Write back: 1. Any friendly-letter reply with a greeting, body and closing, e.g. Dear Nina, Thank you for your letter. Biscuit says hello... Yes, we can go canoeing. Love, Grandpa

Common mistakes to watch for

• Choosing an option because it is true, not because it answers the question. In the honey passage, "to keep the hive cool" sounds sensible, but the text says the fanning dries the nectar.
• Retelling instead of finding the main idea. A main idea is one sentence that covers the whole passage, not the first thing that happened.
• Guessing vocabulary from the word alone. Send students back to the sentence: "the leaves hung limp" next to "dried to cracked mud" tells them limp means drooping.
• Answering inference questions with "it doesn't say". Model the reasoning aloud: Biscuit gets "a scratch behind the ears", so Biscuit is an animal, most likely Grandpa's pet.