Information in Other Forms is a free printable Grade 4 English worksheet on taking meaning from a visual or spoken presentation, aligned to Common Core standard SL.4.2. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions, 24 of them with 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 1 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.
24 of these 25 sets ask different questions — this skill does not have 25 questions to give. The rest reorder them, so no two pupils have the same paper in front of them.
Information in Other Forms
SL.4.2
NameDate
Read the text, then answer the questions.
1.Read the text, then answer the questions.
How Penicillin Was Found
In 1928 Alexander Fleming went on holiday and left a stack of dishes on a bench. Each held a colony of bacteria.
When he came back, one dish had a spot of mould on it. Around the mould was a clear ring where the bacteria had died.
Fleming realised the mould was producing something that killed bacteria. He named it penicillin and published a paper. Almost nobody noticed.
Ten years later, Howard Florey and Ernst Chain read that paper and tried to make penicillin in quantity. That turned out to be the hard part: it took two thousand litres of mould fluid to treat one patient.
By 1944 the problem had been solved and penicillin was reaching soldiers in the field.
1. What would a photograph accompanying this text most usefully show?
2. How would a timeline help a reader of this text?
3. What overall structure does this text use?
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.
The Accidental Photograph
In 1895 Wilhelm Röntgen was working with a covered tube in a darkened room when he noticed a screen across the laboratory glowing.
Something was passing through the cover and crossing the room. He did not know what it was, so he called it X — the unknown.
He spent seven weeks alone in the laboratory testing it. He put wood, rubber and metal in the way. Metal stopped it; the rest did not.
Then he asked his wife to put her hand between the tube and a photographic plate. The picture showed the bones of her hand and her wedding ring.
Within a year, X-rays were being used in hospitals. Röntgen refused to patent them.
1. How would a reproduction of the first X-ray help this text?
2. What would a diagram of Röntgen's experiment need to show?
3. What overall structure does this text use?
LessonPrint · SL.4.2 · Set 1 · free to copy for classroom use
Answer key — Information in Other Forms
Set 1. Prints on its own sheet.
1.1. A dish with a mould spot and the clear ring around it. 2. It would set 1928, the ten-year gap and 1944 against each other at a glance. 3. Chronology — 1928, ten years later, and 1944.
2.1. It would show what Röntgen actually saw: bones and a wedding ring. 2. The covered tube, the room, the glowing screen across it, and the materials placed in the way. 3. Chronology, from the accidental glow to hospital use within a year.
Questions about Information in Other Forms
What does the Information in Other Forms worksheet cover?
It practises taking meaning from a visual or spoken presentation — 2 questions for Grade 4, all on Common Core SL.4.2: Put part of what you heard or saw into your own words. The instruction to pupils is “Read the text, then answer the questions”, and the answer key follows on the next sheet.
Which Common Core standard does Information in Other Forms practise?
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.4.2 — SL.4.2, in the Speaking & Listening domain for Grade 4. The published standard reads: “Paraphrase portions of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.” The worksheet assesses that standard rather than a paraphrase of it.
What age or grade is this worksheet for?
Information in Other Forms is written for Grade 4, typically ages 9-10. It is one of the sheets on SL.4.2, so it suits any pupil working at that standard — including older pupils revisiting it and younger ones working ahead.
Does Information in Other Forms come with an answer key?
Yes. All 2 answers are generated from the same problems as the questions, so the key cannot drift out of step with the sheet. It starts on a fresh sheet of paper, after the questions, so it is not handed out with the class by accident.
How many different versions of Information in Other Forms can I print?
25 versions, of which 24 ask genuinely different questions — this skill does not have 25 distinct questions to give, so the rest reorder them and no two pupils still share a paper. Set 1 downloads all 25 as one PDF.
Is Information in Other Forms free to print and photocopy?
Yes. Information in Other Forms, its answer key and its 25 versions are free to print and photocopy for your own class, with no account, no email capture and no subscription at the download step. Please do not resell them or republish them as your own.
More practice for SL.4.2
Put part of what you heard or saw into your own words.