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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.

Why Bread Rises

Yeast is alive. It is a fungus, and each grain of dried yeast holds millions of cells waiting for water. Add warm water and the cells wake up. They begin to feed on the sugars in the flour. As they feed, they give off carbon dioxide gas. The gas cannot escape, because kneading the dough has built a stretchy web of gluten that traps it. Thousands of tiny bubbles form, and the dough swells. In the oven, two things happen. The trapped gas expands in the heat, so the loaf rises further. Then the heat kills the yeast and sets the gluten, and the bubbles are locked in place. That is why bread has holes in it.

  1. 1. Explain the cause and effect between kneading and the holes in bread.
  2. 2. Put these in order: the gluten sets, the yeast feeds, the gas expands.
  3. 3. What would happen to dough with no gluten in it?
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.

How a Windmill Grinds Flour

A windmill turns moving air into turning stone. The sails are set at a slight angle. Because of that angle, wind pushing on them cannot pass straight through, so it pushes them round instead. The sails turn a horizontal shaft. A large wooden gear on that shaft meshes with a smaller one on an upright shaft, which turns the millstones below. Because the smaller gear has fewer teeth, it spins faster than the sails do. Four turns of the sails can mean twenty turns of the stone. The grain falls between two stones. The top stone turns; the bottom one does not. The grain is crushed between them, and flour comes out at the edge.

  1. 1. Explain the cause and effect between the small gear and the speed of the stone.
  2. 2. What would happen if the sails were flat rather than angled?
  3. 3. Put these in order: the millstones turn, the sails turn, the gears mesh.

LessonPrint · RI.3.10 · Set 22 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Following a Technical Explanation

Set 22. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Kneading builds the gluten web, which traps the gas in bubbles, and the heat locks those bubbles in as holes. 2. The yeast feeds, the gas expands, the gluten sets. 3. The gas would escape, so the dough would not swell and the bread would be flat.
  2. 2.1. Because the smaller gear has fewer teeth, it spins faster, so the stone turns faster than the sails. 2. The wind would pass straight through and they would not turn. 3. The sails turn, the gears mesh, the millstones turn.

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