Skip to content
LessonPrint

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 3 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

Next setLesson plan

One paper per pupil

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425

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.

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. The author reports a disagreement. What is it, and how is it presented?
  2. 2. Determine the main idea of this text and explain how key details support it.
  3. 3. How many wolves were brought back?
  4. 4. What overall structure does this text use?
2.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. The text says neither organism could build a reef alone. What evidence supports that?
  2. 2. Determine the main idea of this text and explain how key details support it.
  3. 3. What does the polyp draw from the sea water?
  4. 4. What overall structure does this text use?

LessonPrint · RI.4.10 · Set 3 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Reading a Grade 4 Fact Text

Set 3. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Some researchers credit wolves with reshaping rivers; others say the effect is overstated — both are reported without choosing. 2. Returning wolves changed the whole valley through a chain of effects — supported by the elk behaviour, the trees, the beavers and the rivers. 3. Fourteen. 4. Cause and effect in a chain, from wolves to elk to trees to beavers to rivers.
  2. 2.1. The algae make the food; the polyp makes the cup and gives them shelter. 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. Calcium. 4. It defines a reef, explains the polyp and algae partnership, then explains what bleaching breaks.

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.