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Take Brief Notes is a free printable Grade 3 English worksheet on recording facts from a source without copying it out, aligned to Common Core standard W.3.8. 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 13 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.

Take Brief Notes

W.3.8

NameDate

Read the text, then answer the questions.

1.Read the text, then answer the questions.

How a Canal Lock Works

A canal cannot run uphill. Where the land rises, engineers build a lock: a chamber with a gate at each end. A boat going uphill enters the lock through the lower gate. The gate closes behind it. Sluices in the upper gate are opened. Water flows in from the higher stretch of canal, and the boat rises with it. No pump is needed, because the water comes down by gravity. When the water inside matches the level above, the upper gate can be opened and the boat moves on. Going downhill, everything runs the other way: the water is let out, and the boat sinks with it.

  1. 1. Which gate does a boat going uphill enter through?
  2. 2. How is this text organised?
  3. 3. The author says no pump is needed. What reason is given?
  4. 4. What are opened to let the water in?
2.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. How is this text organised?
  2. 2. How much weight do they lose?
  3. 3. How far do swallows fly?
  4. 4. The author opens by saying it is not the cold. What reason is given instead?

LessonPrint · W.3.8 · Set 13 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Take Brief Notes

Set 13. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. The lower gate. 2. As a sequence — the steps of going uphill in order, then the reverse for downhill. 3. The water comes down from the higher stretch by gravity. 4. Sluices in the upper gate.
  2. 2.1. Cause first, then the journey, then the return — a cause-and-effect sequence. 2. About a third of their body weight. 3. About six thousand miles. 4. The insects the swallow eats disappear in October.

More practice for W.3.8

Take brief notes from sources and sort them into given categories.

Teaching this next? Taking Notes and Sorting Evidence is the 40-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 3 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to W.3.8 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.