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Reading a Grade 4 Fact Text is a free printable Grade 4 English worksheet on reading a whole information text and answering across it, aligned to Common Core standard RI.4.10. 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 20 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 4 Fact Text

RI.4.10

NameDate

Read the text, then answer the questions.

1.Read the text, then answer the questions.

What a Coral Reef Is

A coral reef looks like rock and is built by animals. A coral polyp is a soft creature the size of a pinhead. It draws calcium from the sea water and builds a hard cup around itself. Millions of polyps, cup upon cup, become a reef. Inside each polyp live tiny algae. The algae make food from sunlight and pass most of it to the polyp. In exchange they get shelter and the polyp's waste. Neither could build a reef alone. When the water gets too warm, the polyps expel the algae. Without them the coral turns white and starves. That is what bleaching means. A reef takes centuries to build and can bleach in a single hot summer.

  1. 1. What overall structure does this text use?
  2. 2. Determine the main idea of this text and explain how key details support it.
  3. 3. The text says neither organism could build a reef alone. What evidence supports that?
  4. 4. What happens when the water gets too warm?
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. 1. Why did he call them X-rays?
  2. 2. In what year did Röntgen notice the glow?
  3. 3. The text says Röntgen refused to patent X-rays. What does that suggest about him?
  4. 4. What overall structure does this text use?

LessonPrint · RI.4.10 · Set 20 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Reading a Grade 4 Fact Text

Set 20. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. It defines a reef, explains the polyp and algae partnership, then explains what bleaching breaks. 2. A reef is built by a partnership of two organisms — supported by the exchange between polyp and algae and by what bleaching is. 3. The algae make the food; the polyp makes the cup and gives them shelter. 4. The polyps expel the algae, and the coral turns white and starves.
  2. 2.1. Because X meant the unknown — he did not know what they were. 2. 1895. 3. That he wanted them used freely rather than owned — it is stated as his choice. 4. Chronology, from the accidental glow to hospital use within a year.

More practice for RI.4.10

Read and understand Grade 4-5 information texts by the year's end.

Teaching this next? Reading Grade 4 Informational Texts is the 40-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 4 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to RI.4.10 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.