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Following a Technical Explanation is a free printable Grade 3 English worksheet on holding a chain of causes together while reading, aligned to Common Core standard RI.3.10. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

Following a Technical Explanation

RI.3.10

NameDate

Read the text, then answer the questions.

1.Read the text, then answer the questions.

How a Canal Lock Works

A canal cannot run uphill. Where the land rises, engineers build a lock: a chamber with a gate at each end. A boat going uphill enters the lock through the lower gate. The gate closes behind it. Sluices in the upper gate are opened. Water flows in from the higher stretch of canal, and the boat rises with it. No pump is needed, because the water comes down by gravity. When the water inside matches the level above, the upper gate can be opened and the boat moves on. Going downhill, everything runs the other way: the water is let out, and the boat sinks with it.

  1. 1. Why must the lower gate be closed before the sluices are opened?
  2. 2. Explain the cause and effect between the sluices and the boat.
  3. 3. Put these in order: the upper gate opens, the lower gate closes, the sluices open.
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.

Turning Milk into Cheese

Cheese begins as an accident that people learned to repeat. Milk is mostly water with fat and protein in it. To make cheese, the protein has to be separated out. A starter culture of bacteria is added first. The bacteria turn some of the milk sugar into acid, and the acid begins to make the protein clump together. Then rennet is added, which finishes the job. The milk splits into solid curds and watery whey. The whey is drained off. The curds are pressed, salted, and left to age. Time does the rest: a cheese aged for two years tastes nothing like the same cheese at two weeks.

  1. 1. Explain the cause and effect between the acid and the curds.
  2. 2. Why must the whey be drained off?
  3. 3. Put these in order: the whey is drained, rennet is added, the curds are pressed.

LessonPrint · RI.3.10 · Set 2 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Following a Technical Explanation

Set 2. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Otherwise the water would run straight out of the chamber instead of raising the boat. 2. Opening the sluices lets water flow in, which causes the water level and the boat to rise. 3. The lower gate closes, the sluices open, the upper gate opens.
  2. 2.1. The acid makes the protein clump together, and rennet finishes it, so the milk splits into curds and whey. 2. Because cheese is made from the solid curds, and the whey is the watery part left over. 3. Rennet is added, the whey is drained, the curds are pressed.

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to RI.3.10 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.