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How Actions Drive the Story is a free printable Grade 3 English worksheet on explaining how what a character does shapes the events, aligned to Common Core standard RL.3.3. 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.

How Actions Drive the Story

RL.3.3

NameDate

Read the text, then answer the questions.

1.Read the text, then answer the questions.

The Fox and the Well

A fox leaned too far over a well and fell in. The water was shallow, but the walls were smooth and far too high to climb. He was still sitting there when a goat came by and looked down. "Is the water good?" asked the goat. "The best I have ever tasted," said the fox. "Come down and see." The goat jumped in. The fox climbed onto the goat's back, sprang out, and trotted off. "Wait!" called the goat. "How do I get out?" "You should have thought about that," said the fox, "before you jumped."

  1. 1. What does the goat's question at the start tell you about him?
  2. 2. What happened between the goat jumping in and the fox trotting off?
  3. 3. Describe the fox's motivation. What does he want?
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.

The Night the Lamp Went Out

Grace's father kept the lighthouse. On the worst night of the winter, the lamp went out. He was ill in bed. Grace was eleven. She carried the oil up ninety-seven steps in the dark, twice, because the can was too heavy to lift full. Her arms shook so much on the second trip that she had to sit down halfway. She trimmed the wick the way she had watched a hundred times. She struck the match on the fourth try. By the time the light swung out across the water, three ships had already turned back. Grace never knew whether she had been in time. She decided not to think about it.

  1. 1. What did Grace do between carrying the oil and striking the match?
  2. 2. How do Grace's actions contribute to the sequence of events?
  3. 3. Describe Grace's character. What traits do her actions show?

LessonPrint · RL.3.3 · Set 22 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — How Actions Drive the Story

Set 22. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. He is trusting — he asks about the water rather than about how the fox got there. 2. The fox climbed onto the goat's back and sprang out of the well. 3. He wants out of the well, and he is willing to trap the goat to manage it.
  2. 2.1. She trimmed the wick. 2. Because she carried the oil and lit the lamp, the light swung out across the water again. 3. Determined and capable — she climbed ninety-seven steps twice while shaking, and finished the job.

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to RL.3.3 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.