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10Free 3rd Grade Reading Comprehension Worksheets

Ten free reading comprehension worksheets for third grade, in the order I would actually use them. Start with a story where every answer is sitting in one sentence, move to multiple choice and reading how a character feels, then work out new words from the story around them, and finish with four nonfiction passages that ask why as often as what.

In this roundup

The full list

  1. After School Reading Comprehension Worksheet for Grade 3
  2. Priya's Big Report 3rd Grade Reading Comprehension
  3. Jada Tells the Truth Honesty Reading Worksheet Grade 3
  4. The Missing Library Book 3rd Grade Reading Comprehension
  5. Leo's Lucky Pencil Reading Comprehension Grade 3
  6. The Cloud That Came Inside Grade 3 Reading Comprehension
  7. Sea Otters Reading Comprehension Worksheet for Grade 3
  8. Lightning 3rd Grade Nonfiction Reading Comprehension
  9. Busy Bees Nonfiction Reading Comprehension for Grade 3
  10. Monarch Butterflies Reading Comprehension for 3rd Grade

Most of this set lines up with three Common Core reading standards for third grade. RL.3.1 and RI.3.1 ask children to answer questions by referring back to the text, which is what sheets 01 through 04 practice. RL.3.4 is about working out what words and phrases mean in a story, including ones that are not meant literally, and that is the job of sheets 04 through 06. RI.3.3 covers cause and effect and the order of steps in nonfiction, which is where lightning and the monarch life cycle come in.

The three story sheets that end on an opinion question (the magic pencil, the cloud, and to a lesser extent the library book) work well read aloud together afterwards. There is no single right answer, only a better or worse reason.

Six of the ten are plain black on white and download as true vector PDFs, so they print sharp and are light on ink for a class set. The other four are in color.

01

After School Reading Comprehension Worksheet for Grade 3

Finding the answer · 15 minutes · Grade 3
After School Reading Comprehension Worksheet for Grade 3 worksheet preview

Begin here. Marcus walks home, hangs up his backpack, has a snack, does his homework and walks his dog Pepper before dinner. Four questions follow, and every one of them is answered in a single sentence of the story.

Why it goes first It builds the habit the rest of the set depends on: go back to the text and put a finger on the answer, rather than writing what you remember.
02

Priya's Big Report 3rd Grade Reading Comprehension

Choosing the best answer · 15 minutes · Grade 3
Priya's Big Report 3rd Grade Reading Comprehension worksheet preview

Priya has to read her sea turtle report to the whole class, and her hands will not stop shaking. Her teacher suggests three slow breaths, a friend gives her a thumbs-up, and it goes fine. Four multiple choice questions, three options each.

Watch for Question two. The story never says nervous, so a child has to get there from shaky hands and butterflies in her stomach.
03

Jada Tells the Truth Honesty Reading Worksheet Grade 3

Choosing the best answer · 15 minutes · Grade 3
Jada Tells the Truth Honesty Reading Worksheet Grade 3 worksheet preview

Jada scratches a scooter she borrowed from her neighbor, thinks about hiding it under a sticker, and walks it back to tell the truth instead. Four multiple choice questions, and a story that is worth talking about once the pencils are down.

The interesting part The story says what Jada thought about doing before it says what she did. Question three separates the child who read carefully from the one who grabbed the first action they saw.
04

The Missing Library Book 3rd Grade Reading Comprehension

Words in context · 20 minutes · Grade 3
The Missing Library Book 3rd Grade Reading Comprehension worksheet preview

Maya's library book is due tomorrow and it is not in her backpack. Her dad asks where she read it last, and she finds it on the porch swing. The questions ask for two places she looked, what retrace her steps means, and how she felt.

Why it goes here It is the gentlest of the word questions, because the dad's very next line explains the phrase. The written answers are back, too, after two multiple choice sheets.
05

Leo's Lucky Pencil Reading Comprehension Grade 3

Words in context · 20 minutes · Grade 3
Leo's Lucky Pencil Reading Comprehension Grade 3 worksheet preview

Leo buys a peculiar silver pencil at a yard sale for ten cents, draws an apple, and the apple rolls off the page. Five questions, including what peculiar means and what his jaw dropped tells you about how he felt.

Best for Introducing the idea that some phrases do not mean exactly what they say. Nobody's jaw actually fell off, and children enjoy pointing that out.
06

The Cloud That Came Inside Grade 3 Reading Comprehension

Words in context · 20 minutes · Grade 3
The Cloud That Came Inside Grade 3 Reading Comprehension worksheet preview

A cloud no bigger than a pillow floats into Nina's bedroom and rains on her homework. She yells, it shrinks, and she makes it up to the cloud by carrying it out to her mom's dry tomato plants. Five questions, one on the word gloomy.

What to look for Question four asks why Nina carried the cloud outside. A good answer joins two things, that she felt bad and that the plants were dry.
07

Sea Otters Reading Comprehension Worksheet for Grade 3

Reading nonfiction · 15 minutes · Grade 3
Sea Otters Reading Comprehension Worksheet for Grade 3 worksheet preview

The first nonfiction passage. Sea otters have no blubber, so they keep warm with the thickest fur of any animal, crack shellfish on rocks, and wrap themselves in kelp to sleep. Four written questions.

Why it works Kelp is defined in the same sentence it first appears, which is how a lot of nonfiction handles a new word. Worth saying out loud.
08

Lightning 3rd Grade Nonfiction Reading Comprehension

Cause and effect · 20 minutes · Grade 3
Lightning 3rd Grade Nonfiction Reading Comprehension worksheet preview

How lightning forms, why it makes thunder, and why you see the flash before you hear the boom. Four questions, and nearly all of them are why questions rather than what questions.

Watch for The last question asks what to do when you hear thunder and why. A child who writes go inside and stops there has answered half of it.
09

Busy Bees Nonfiction Reading Comprehension for Grade 3

Longer nonfiction · 20 minutes · Grade 3
Busy Bees Nonfiction Reading Comprehension for Grade 3 worksheet preview

Five short paragraphs on honeybees: the queen, the drones and the worker bees, the wiggle dance, and the fact that one bee makes a twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her life. Two multiple choice questions, then three written ones.

Why it comes late It is the longest passage so far. Each paragraph holds one idea, so a stuck child can be pointed to a paragraph instead of a sentence, which is a real step toward reading independently.
10

Monarch Butterflies Reading Comprehension for 3rd Grade

Longer nonfiction · 20 minutes · Grade 3
Monarch Butterflies Reading Comprehension for 3rd Grade worksheet preview

Monarch butterflies: the four stages of the life cycle, why caterpillars eat only milkweed, the long flight to Mexico, and tasting with their feet. Two multiple choice questions and three written answers.

Why it ends the set Question four takes two steps (milkweed has a poison, and the poison makes monarchs taste bad to birds). Holding two facts together is the skill this whole set has been building toward.

One more thing.

If your kids finish a unit and you're not sure what to do next, my honest advice: don't move on yet. Spend a week mixing these in as warm-ups. Fluency isn't a unit, it's a habit, and the sheet that builds it is usually the one they ask to do again.

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