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Reading Comprehension for 3rd Graders

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Original stories, nonfiction, and poems at three reading levels, each with text-based questions and an answer key, plus organizers for any book.

Download the reading comprehension worksheets

Level 1 passages

Early 3rd grade stories and science texts of 230 to 250 words, with six questions that send children back to the text.

Level 2 passages

Passages of 300 to 400 words: realistic stories, an animal tale, and nonfiction about honeybees and bridges, with questions on character, lesson, main idea and cause and effect.

Level 3 passages

Late 3rd grade reading: a fable, a realistic story, and nonfiction with headings about glaciers and a town council, with seven or eight questions.

Poems

Original poems with questions about stanzas, nonliteral language, a repeated line, and the speaker's feelings.

Use with any book

One-page organizers for asking and answering questions with evidence, describing a character, and summarizing a chapter of any book.

Print at 100% (actual size) for the cleanest tracing lines.

About these reading comprehension worksheets

Third grade is the year children read longer texts on their own: stories with several paragraphs and real problems, nonfiction with headings and fact boxes, and poems with stanzas. Comprehension now means going back to the text to prove an answer, finding the main idea and the details that support it, describing why characters act as they do, and telling what a story teaches.

These reading comprehension passages for 3rd graders are all original and come in three levels. Level 1 passages are about 230 to 250 words, Level 2 passages are 300 to 400 words, and Level 3 passages are 360 to 420 words with richer vocabulary and nonfiction headings. Every passage has numbered paragraphs, so questions can say "Reread paragraph 4" and children practice finding the evidence.

Each passage has six to eight questions that mix multiple choice, true or false, putting events in order, word meaning in context, and written answers that ask children to explain using details from the text. Three original poems add questions about stanzas and nonliteral language. Every page with right answers has an answer key.

Standards

  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.1Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.2Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.4Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.5Refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems when writing or speaking about a text, using terms such as chapter, scene, and stanza; describe how each successive part builds on earlier sections.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.1Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.2Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.3Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.5Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.8Describe the logical connection between particular sentences and paragraphs in a text (e.g., comparison, cause/effect, first/second/third in a sequence).

How to use them

  1. Start with a Level 1 passage. Your child should read it smoothly and answer most questions correctly before moving up.
  2. Have your child read the whole text once for meaning, then reread the paragraph a question names before answering.
  3. For written answers, ask your child to point to the sentence that proves the answer, then write it in their own words.
  4. Use the any-book organizers with library books and chapter books for extra practice.

Teaching tips

  • The numbers in the margin are paragraph numbers. Show your child how to use them to find the evidence fast.
  • If a passage is hard, read the first paragraph aloud together, then let your child finish it.
  • Talk about new words before looking them up: what do the words around them say?
  • Mix fiction and nonfiction. Many third graders read stories well but need more practice with information texts.

Questions teachers and parents ask

What reading level is 3rd grade?

By the end of third grade, most children read chapter books and nonfiction articles of several pages on their own. These passages grow from about 230 words at Level 1 to about 400 words at Level 3.

How do I choose a level?

Start with Level 1. If your child reads it smoothly and answers most questions, move up. If the reading is slow or the answers are guesses, stay at that level a little longer.

Are these passages original?

Yes. Every story, nonfiction text, and poem was written for this site, and all of them are free to print.

Do the worksheets have answer keys?

Yes. Every page with right answers has an answer key on page 2. Written answers show an example.