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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 4 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.

Why Anansi Has Thin Legs

Long ago Anansi the spider had eight fat legs, and a nose for other people's cooking. One morning he smelled beans at Rabbit's house. "Tie a web to my leg," he told Rabbit, "and tug it when the beans are ready." Rabbit agreed. Then Anansi smelled fish at Monkey's, and yams at Guinea Fowl's, and soup at Warthog's. To each he said the same thing. By noon he had eight webs tied to eight legs. At noon every pot was ready at once. Eight tugs came together. The webs pulled so hard that Anansi's legs stretched thin as thread — and he got no dinner at all. They have been thin ever since.

  1. 1. What is the central message of this tale?
  2. 2. How many webs were tied to Anansi's legs by noon?
  3. 3. How do Anansi's actions cause the ending?
  4. 4. Describe Anansi's motivation. What does he want, and what does he do about it?
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. Why did she make the trip twice?
  2. 2. Describe Grace's character. What traits do her actions show?
  3. 3. What is the central message of this story?
  4. 4. "She had watched a hundred times" — is this literal? What does it mean?

LessonPrint · RL.3.10 · Set 4 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Reading a Grade 3 Story

Set 4. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Wanting everything at once can leave you with nothing — Anansi arranged eight dinners and ate none. 2. Eight. 3. Because he made eight arrangements, all eight tugs came at once and stretched his legs. 4. He wants as much free food as possible, so he arranges a web with every neighbour at once.
  2. 2.1. The can was too heavy to lift full. 2. Determined and capable — she climbed ninety-seven steps twice while shaking, and finished the job. 3. Doing the job matters even when you never find out whether it was enough. 4. Nonliteral. It means she had watched very many times, not exactly a hundred.

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.