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Paraphrase What You Heard is a free printable Grade 4 English worksheet on putting part of a text into your own words, 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 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 24 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.

Paraphrase What You Heard

SL.4.2

NameDate

Read the text, then answer the questions.

1.Read the text, then answer the questions.

The Wolves and the Rivers

Wolves were shot out of Yellowstone by 1926. Fourteen were brought back in 1995. With no wolves, elk had grazed the valleys freely for seventy years. Young willow and aspen were eaten as soon as they grew. The wolves killed some elk. More importantly, they changed where elk would stand still. Open valley floors became dangerous, so the elk stopped lingering there. Willow and aspen grew back along the rivers. Beavers, which need willow, returned. Their dams made ponds. Roots held the banks. The rivers narrowed, deepened and moved less. Some researchers describe this as wolves changing the shape of rivers, though others argue the effect has been overstated.

  1. 1. When were wolves brought back to Yellowstone?
  2. 2. Summarise this text.
  3. 3. Which trees grew back along the rivers?
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.

Why Clocks Agree

Until the 1840s, every British town kept its own time, set by the sun. Noon in Bristol was about ten minutes after noon in London. That was no problem while the fastest thing on the road was a horse. The railways changed it. A timetable cannot work if every station measures noon differently, and trains sharing a track need to agree about when. So the railway companies imposed London time on their whole network. People called it railway time. Some towns kept two minute hands on the town clock for years, one local and one railway. In 1880 Parliament made a single time legal across the country. The sun had been overruled by the timetable.

  1. 1. Summarise this text.
  2. 2. How far behind London was Bristol's noon?
  3. 3. What was the single time called before it became law?

LessonPrint · SL.4.2 · Set 24 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Paraphrase What You Heard

Set 24. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. 1995. 2. Wolves returned to Yellowstone in 1995, changed where elk grazed, allowed willow and beavers back, and are credited — with some dispute — with reshaping the rivers. 3. Willow and aspen.
  2. 2.1. Every British town kept its own sun time until railway timetables made that impossible, so railway companies imposed London time and Parliament made it law in 1880. 2. About ten minutes. 3. Railway time.

More practice for SL.4.2

Put part of what you heard or saw into your own words.

Teaching this next? Paraphrasing What You Heard is the 40-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

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Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to SL.4.2 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.