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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 Swallows Leave

Swallows do not leave Britain because of the cold. They leave because of the insects. A swallow eats flying insects, and it catches them in the air. In October the insects disappear, and a bird that eats nothing else has to follow the food. So swallows fly to southern Africa: about six thousand miles, taking roughly six weeks. They travel by day and feed as they go. They lose about a third of their body weight on the way. Many do not arrive. The following spring they return, and a swallow will often nest in the very barn it hatched in.

  1. 1. Why does the text mention that many swallows do not arrive?
  2. 2. Explain the cause and effect between October and the swallows leaving.
  3. 3. Put these in order: the swallows return, the insects disappear, the swallows fly south.
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.

The Salmon's Return

A salmon hatches in a river, swims to the sea, and comes back years later to the river it was born in. It finds its way home by smell. Every river carries its own mixture of soil, rock and plants, and a young salmon learns that smell before it leaves. The return journey is upstream. The fish leap waterfalls, sometimes several metres high, and they do not eat once they enter fresh water. Because it is not feeding, a salmon uses up its own body on the climb. By the time it reaches the gravel where it hatched, it is thin and worn. There it lays its eggs. Most Atlantic salmon die soon afterwards.

  1. 1. Put these in order: it lays eggs, it swims to the sea, it hatches in gravel.
  2. 2. Explain the cause and effect between not eating and the salmon's condition.
  3. 3. Why does a young salmon need to learn the river's smell before it leaves?

LessonPrint · RI.3.10 · Set 23 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Following a Technical Explanation

Set 23. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. To show how hard the journey is, after giving the distance and the weight loss. 2. In October the flying insects disappear, so the swallows, which eat nothing else, must follow the food south. 3. The insects disappear, the swallows fly south, the swallows return.
  2. 2.1. It hatches in gravel, it swims to the sea, it lays eggs. 2. Because it is not feeding, it uses up its own body, so it arrives thin and worn. 3. Because that memory is what it uses years later to find the same river again.

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