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Reading a Grade 3 Story is a free printable Grade 3 English worksheet on reading a whole Grade 3 text and answering across it, aligned to Common Core standard RL.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.

Set 18 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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

Reading a Grade 3 Story

RL.3.10

NameDate

Read the text, then answer the questions.

1.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 is the central message of this story?
  2. 2. How do Grace's actions contribute to the sequence of events?
  3. 3. How many steps did Grace climb?
  4. 4. How many tries did the match take?
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.

The Museum Key (a scene from a play)

SCENE TWO. The museum store room. Night. Boxes everywhere. A single desk lamp. PRIYA: (whispering) It was here on Tuesday. On this shelf. JON: You are sure it was this shelf? PRIYA: I dusted it. I am sure. JON: (lifting a lid) Then somebody moved it after Tuesday. PRIYA: Or before Tuesday, and I dusted the empty space. (Pause. JON puts the lid down slowly.) JON: That is worse. PRIYA: I know.

  1. 1. "I dusted the empty space" — what does Priya mean?
  2. 2. How does Jon respond to Priya's second idea?
  3. 3. What is the only light in the room?
  4. 4. When does Priya say the object was last there?

LessonPrint · RL.3.10 · Set 18 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Reading a Grade 3 Story

Set 18. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Doing the job matters even when you never find out whether it was enough. 2. Because she carried the oil and lit the lamp, the light swung out across the water again. 3. Ninety-seven. 4. Four.
  2. 2.1. That the object may already have been gone, and she cleaned the shelf without noticing. 2. He puts the lid down slowly and says it is worse — he sees what it would mean. 3. A single desk lamp. 4. Tuesday.

More practice for RL.3.10

Read and understand harder Grade 2-3 stories, plays and poems on your own.

Teaching this next? Reading Grade 3 Literature is the 40-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 3 worksheets

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