Grade 3 reading comprehension worksheets

2 worksheets ready to print: The Best Seat on the Bus, Inside a Volcano.

8 more passages in Grade 3 come with a PlayOwl plan. The Two Goats on the Bridge, From Tree to Table: Maple Syrup, The Missing Cupcakes: A Short Play, The First Ferris Wheel, A Day Without Power, How Owls Hunt at Night, Where Go the Boats?, Hiding in Plain Sight.

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Reading Comprehension · Grade 3

Name Date

The Best Seat on the Bus

Story · 4 questions · 159 words

Picture: A rainy morning at a bus stop on a quiet street. A yellow school bus waits with its door open. A boy of about eight, with tan skin and short black hair, in a yellow raincoat, climbs the steps holding a dripping blue umbrella. Children's faces look out of the fogged windows. Puddles shine on the road.

1 Every morning, Caleb hurried to the back row of Bus 9. The back seat bounced the highest over bumps. It also had the biggest window. Caleb always put his backpack on the seat beside him, so nobody could sit there.

2 One rainy Monday, a new boy climbed on at the last stop. He walked down the aisle with a dripping umbrella, but every seat was full. Nobody moved over to make room. The boy stopped next to Caleb's backpack and stared down at his wet shoes. "Find a seat, please!" called the driver.

3 Caleb remembered his own first day at this school. He had eaten lunch all alone. He pulled his backpack onto his lap. "You can sit here," he said. The new boy, Felix, slid in next to him and smiled. When the bus hit the big bump on Hill Road, they both bounced up and laughed. Caleb decided that the best seat was even better with two.

Written for PlayOwl

Questions

Read the passage. Fill in the circle next to the best answer. Then write where you found the answer.

  1. 1Why did Caleb like the back seat of the bus best?

    • It was the closest seat to the bus driver.
    • It bounced the most and had the biggest window.
    • His best friend always saved it for him.
    • It was the only seat that stayed dry.

    I found it in paragraph

  1. 2In paragraph 2, nobody moved over to make "room." What does "room" mean here?

    • a part of a house with walls and a door
    • a window to look out of
    • a quiet time to rest
    • enough space for someone to fit

    I found it in paragraph

  2. 3Why did Caleb move his backpack for Felix?

    • The driver told Caleb to move it.
    • Felix asked Caleb to give him the seat.
    • He knew how lonely it feels to be new.
    • He needed someone to hold his umbrella.

    I found it in paragraph

  3. 4What lesson does Caleb learn in this story?

    • Sharing what you have can make it even better.
    • The back of the bus is always the most fun.
    • You should get to the bus early to get a seat.
    • Rainy days are the hardest days to ride a bus.

    I found it in paragraph

Free to copy for home and classroom use · PlayOwl · Grade 3 · The Best Seat on the Bus

Reading Comprehension · Grade 3

Name Date

Inside a Volcano

Science · 4 questions · 156 words

Picture: A labeled diagram: a volcano cut in half from top to bottom. Deep below, an orange pool is labeled "magma chamber". A narrow orange "pipe" runs up to the "vent", which opens at the bottom of the bowl-shaped "crater" at the top. Orange "lava" flows down one side, a gray "ash cloud" rises above, and stripes in the cone are labeled "layers of rock".

1 Deep under the ground, it is hot enough to melt rock. This melted rock is called magma. Magma collects in a big space called a magma chamber. Magma is lighter than the hard rock around it, so it slowly pushes up.

2 It rises up a long, thin pipe. Gases in the magma push harder and harder, like the fizz in a shaken soda bottle. When the push gets too strong, the volcano erupts. Magma bursts out of an opening called a vent. The vent sits in a bowl-shaped hole at the top, called the crater. Once magma reaches the air, it has a new name: lava.

3 Sometimes lava oozes gently down the sides. Other times, huge clouds of ash blast high into the sky. When the lava and ash cool, they harden into new rock. After many eruptions, layer upon layer of rock builds up. That is how a volcano can grow into a tall mountain.

Written for PlayOwl

Questions

Read the passage. Fill in the circle next to the best answer. Then write where you found the answer.

  1. 1What is this passage mostly about?

    • why people should stay far away from volcanoes
    • what lava looks like after it cools into rock
    • how melted rock rises, erupts and builds a volcano
    • how scientists measure the heat deep inside Earth

    I found it in paragraph

  1. 2What makes a volcano erupt?

    • Rain fills up the crater at the top.
    • The lava cools down and gets hard.
    • The ground above the magma chamber melts.
    • Gases inside push the magma out.

    I found it in paragraph

  2. 3In paragraph 2, the volcano "erupts." What does "erupts" mean?

    • bursts open and throws out what is inside
    • cools down slowly and turns into hard rock
    • sinks lower and lower into the ground
    • grows taller, one layer at a time

    I found it in paragraph

  3. 4Where would you find the newest layer of rock on a volcano?

    • deep down in the magma chamber
    • under all the older layers of rock
    • on the outside, covering the older layers
    • inside the long, narrow pipe

    I found it in paragraph