Reading Comprehension Worksheets

Focused Reading Passage Worksheets

All the passages are aligned to curriculum standards to make them very easier to use. You can find much longer passages at the bottom of this page. These practice readers all include a question sections. They are on fun and light topics for kids.

Fun With Fiction

My Rocket Ship
Don't you wish you could just zip up into the sky? Ready to blast off? Follow one person's dream through the deep of space.

Martin The Monkey
A monkey that can pitch? A primate that can pitch a baseball? Let's more about our little friend.

Bobby's Big Birthday Party
Bobby has his party and gets ready for his next party too? Bobby has your typical no thrills birthday. Or does him? It did become a zoo at the end.

Going On A Picnic
Everyone loves a picnic. What could go wrong? This is the story of two girls who are getting ready for a big end of season culminating picnic.

Out To Lunch
Somebody is really hungry. Ted is dying for lunch. He so hungry he could taste it. That will teach him to miss breakfast.

Terry and First Aid
Terry gets cut on her knee... This passage is short and sweet to really help get you warmed up. The question portion is very standard.

The Big Run
Getting ready for that long road race. Mary has been enjoying running road races for quite some time. Lets see what she is up to now.

The Hottest Day Ever
Man it's sweltering in here. Man, that was one hot August day! Relive one persons' story.

The Play
There is a lot of drama in this one. Who would have known that during a play that more drama goes on behind the scenes than on stage.

Passage Based On Places

Chicago
Bring a scarf; we're talking "windy city"! Why is it called the "Windy City"? We answer that and much more in this reading passage.

London
Take a deep look at the home of the Queen. I never knew that London was the biggest European City. I always thought it was Paris. Another day, another bit of knowledge.

New York City
We take a look at the Big Apple. The financial capital of the world and one of the most diverse cultures you will find within 14 square miles. New York City is a place everyone should visit.

Sydney
We go "down under" to visit an amazing city. People often open this one not knowing what to expect. Are they talking about the city or a person's name? We are talking about the former.

Passage Based On Careers

Carpenters
We look at skilled craftsmen. We look at a difficult and all encompassing career field. We go over the basics of the field.

Dancers
This fluid sport and art is a beautiful testament to humanity. One of the most graceful arts on the planet, dancing has been around since the dawn of human history.

Firefighters
One of the bravest job ever dreamed up. We look at the career path referred to as "the Bravest". Outside of military soldiers, this career path has the highest in service death rate.

More Serious NonFiction Passages

Credit Cards
Are they truly a plastic nightmare or a trusted tool. Credit cards aren't all the are cracked up to be. Many people see them as a life saver, but they can drag down a lot quicker.

Kidozine
Didn't you ever want to create your own magazine? The story of a student magazine for and by students. It really makes you think (I hear a lesson plan idea).

Autumn
Who doesn't love the fall season. We learn a little bit about the fall season. We talk about the actions of plants and animals.

The Post Office
Haven't you ever pondered how all that mail gets to you? We look at the history behind the postal system. We also look at the modern postal system that has become an industry in of itself.

Water - The Compound of Life
The title kind of sums it all up. We look at the chemistry and human use of hydrogen dioxide. A brief exploration into what makes water tick. Did you ever know how important it is to have 8 glasses a day?

Reading Endurance Worksheets

This set of worksheets below have reading passage that are just about one full page. This requires more attention to detail for the students.

Works of Fiction

Jacob and the Javelin
Ever the incredible athlete, Jacob takes a liking to the Javelin. Jacob has always been a star athlete that had little to no trouble dominating his competition. Now he enters high school and wants to master the Javelin.

Is it the Shoes?
How can shoes change or enhance your athletic performance. We take a look at it for you. Lets talk about improving your "ups!" or your vertical jumping height. We ask you to get more expressive and opinionated with your answers as well.

Tiffany's Cookies
Didn't you ever want to down a big plate of cookies? The story of how a little girl turned a hobby into a monster industry. I love cookies too!

Nonfiction

How Does the Stock Exchange Work?
Have you ever wondered why the stock market is always associated with getting rich? I always wondered that too. Lets learn together as our business writer wrote this worksheet for kids.

Maintaining Your Automobile
How to take the proper care of your car. This is something that you could use to learn at any age. Did you know that the #5 reason for car breakdown last year was that people did not know that you need to change the oil in cars regularly.

The Foods We Eat
You are what you eat, at least that what they say. Who are these "they" people anyway? The reading passage are much longer now. We focus on extending the length of time between reading and answering questions.

Fall
We learn a little more about the season of dropping leaves. Autumn is traditionally harvest time when the farmers would cut their crops to prepare them for storage or to sell. When I was a kid we lived on a dairy farm and this was always a busy time of year as we cut harvested our crops and prepared the farm for winter.

Reading For Purpose

There are practical reasons that reading becomes more of a tool. In these worksheets we touch on that by measuring comprehension of key details.

A Boy's Birthday Party Invitation
A very common practice in elementary schools everywhere. This is truly real world activity for children to master. It also helps led them towards understanding how advertising tries to shape ideas.

Reading Party Invitations
Holly's Birthday party is on the 12th. What else can you tell us. Holly is having a birthday party. See if you can grasp all the finer points of this little swaray.

Mama Leone's Famous Chocolate Cake Recipe
Did you ever consider reading recipes as a skill? We do! This is a fun one! Students read a recipe and answer question about both the recipe and the process of making the chocolate cake.

Reading Comprehension of Event Flyers - Rattle Snake Man
The Rattle Snake Man is coming to town and you and your friends want to go see him. The Rattle Snake Man is coming to town and you want to go see him. You even decide to invite a few friends.

Gingerbread Surprise! Poem
This is an elongated poem to enjoy.

Understanding Advertisements
A water car? That would be awesome! We dissect an advertisement to understanding what the original creator of this piece of media intended to convey. In this case we have an ad for a water powered car.

Gingerbread Surprise! Question Sheet
The questions for the above poem set. This is the question sheet for the poem passage that you should have previously printed.

Grade 3 to 5 Leveled Reading Printables

This series comes in two or three page different pages because the passages and questions are pretty lengthy. These are all CORE aligned and provide perfect practice for students. These are pure gold. You will find leveled readers for your students.

Baseball Hall of Fame - We look at the history behind Cooperstown and the requirements to enter the Hall of Fame as a player.

Florida - Take a look at orange a tourism capital of the United States. We also dive into the economics of the peninsula.

Glass! - We take a look at the chemical composition and unique character of glass.

Henry Hudson - This is very interesting story of the legend of the last days of Hudson's life.

Henry Matisse - The famous artist and world class painter did so to the chagrin of his father.

Hyde Park, New York - A little town in Southeastern New York State that has had some very famous residents.

Museum of Natural History - Explore the phenomena of this world class museum that is thought to have the world's largest scientific collection.

Mid Hudson Balloon Festival - Learn more about hot air balloon travel.

Museum of Fine Arts - We look at the history and funding behind this landmark of Boston Massachusetts.

The Mists of Avalon - A review of the novel.

Answers For ALL Multiple Choice

Holiday Reading Worksheets

Pick your time of year. We probably have it.

Science Related Reading Worksheets

You find a wide range of Science sheets here.

Social Studies Related Reading Worksheets

You find a wide range of Social Studies sheets here. These are our complete reading lesson sets. You will find a ton of great resources.

9 Surefire Ways to Improve Student Reading Comprehension

If you are wondering what are surefire ways to improve student reading comprehension? you’ve come to the right place. As a teacher, you might find several students in your class who are coping to understand what they read. Poor comprehension will obviously be detrimental to their academic progress. Thankfully, there are a whole lot of tips, tricks, and hacks that your students can leverage to boost their reading comprehension. Some of them are also fun. Here are the best ways to improve student comprehension.

1. Improve Vocabulary

In this era of slang usage and textspeak, vocabulary declines. Although some are quick to blame youngsters' predilection for slang language as a reason for this phenomenon, another key factor is at play. Their limited vocabulary is partly due to their young age. So teachers should try to gradually expand their vocabulary. Give your students a couple of new "hard words" each day. Besides looking into their meanings, students should also use them in sentences. Since kids are so enamored with tech, why not use it constructively? You can suggest several great apps for improving vocabulary.

2. Learn to Ask Questions

After reading a paragraph or a page, learning to ask questions can help boost your comprehension by testing your understanding.Your students should learn to ask "why?" and "how" to gauge their understanding. Proactive questioning can be a game-changer for student comprehension.

3. Read Aloud

It is commonly believed that adults read silently while kids and toddlers read aloud to comprehend abstruse text. However, kiddies may be onto something. Believe it or not, reading aloud can actually boost comprehension. There is some scientific evidence that reading aloud can improve both comprehensions as well as recall. Note that you don't have to turn the volume too high while reading aloud. Reading very softly so that it is only audible to you can also positively affect reading comprehension.
Just try it!

4. Summarize

Students should be able to summarize what they have just read. Also, they should explain the text in their own words to find out how well they truly understand the text.
While summarizing and explaining it to themselves, if they find themselves stumbling and struggling, then they may not have really understood it. The benefit of summarizing and explaining to oneself is that if there are deficiencies in your understanding, you will be able to identify exactly where they are. You can then read relevant sentences to bolster your understanding.

5. Write it Down

This may be time-consuming, but it works. Writing down a summary may be just what you need for enhancing comprehension. There is a fair amount of scientific evidence to indicate that writing it down can help you make sense of what you just read. One factor for its effectiveness may be due to the higher level of focus that writing entails. Another reason could be the slowing down of your thinking process so that your thoughts are more coherent and logical.

6. Break it Down

If the text you are reading feels challenging and abstruse, it is time to break it down into smaller components. Analyzing each phrase separately is far simpler, and it could improve your comprehension abilities. A major reason we fail to understand what we have just read is that we may be reading too much too fast. The brain can only handle a relatively small amount of information each second. So instead of overwhelming yourself, divide the text into easily manageable bits and pieces that are much easier to understand. Once you understand what each phrase means individually, you can merge them into a more coherent thought. If your students learn to take it one at a time, they will greatly improve their comprehension.

7. Relax

Stress can have a detrimental effect on reading comprehension. Deep breathing, slow and steady thinking, and getting up from your chair to walk can all help. Deep breathing calms down the mind and brings clarity to your thought process. Slow but steady reading is also essential for lucid thinking. Don't overwhelm yourself and don't sit for prolonged periods. There is much evidence to prove that sedentariness is extremely bad for health. This may sound anecdotal, but you must have felt that after sitting for too long, your mind stagnates as well. This is not surprising considering that the mind and body are closely linked. So if your body is sedentary, your mind will hardly be agile. Get up from your seat after 20 minutes. Walk around for 5 minutes or so and stretch. You will feel better and note that periodic sauntering is conducive to better thinking and comprehension.

8. Remove Distractions

Tell your students to get rid of their phones while reading. If you check your social media feed every 2 minutes, you will barely focus on what you are reading. Read where it is quiet. Also, make sure that the room is neither too hot nor too cold.

9. No, Speed Reading Doesn't Work

Even though science has debunked speed reading thoroughly, there are still plenty of dubious claims online that it works. Young, naive students may be vulnerable to such disinformation. Science shows that faster reading actually hampers comprehension. That is, you understand less the faster you read. Speed reading is just a scam for making money. Sadly, our hectic and frantic lifestyle and our culture glorifying life in the fast lane contribute to hasty reading. No wonder then that student comprehension is so poor these days. Haste makes waste. At the same time, slow and steady wins the race. These are not mere cliches. Rather they are time-tested axioms that can better serve students and boost their comprehension. Sometimes less is more - This applies especially to optimal reading speed. Mentioned above are several surefire ways to improve student comprehension. As a caring educator, you should teach these tips and tricks to your students so that they can do better in their studies and their lives.