Reading a Poem Aloud is a free printable Grade 4 English worksheet on reading poetry well enough to record it, aligned to Common Core standard SL.4.5. 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 7 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.
Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.
Reading a Poem Aloud
SL.4.5
NameDate
Read the text, then answer the questions.
1.Read the text, then answer the questions.
The Quarry, Filled
Stanza one:
They took the hill away in carts
for ninety years, and then they stopped.
The hole they left filled up with rain
until the rain had reached the top.
Stanza two:
Now people swim where men once cut.
The water hides the ledge, the crane,
the drill-marks in the standing rock,
the tracks, the shed, the loading lane.
Stanza three:
The children diving off the edge
have never heard the word for it.
They call it "the lake". They are not wrong.
A thing becomes what people make of it.
1. Which line states the poem's conclusion?
2. How many stanzas are there, and what does each one cover?
3. Quote the list of what is under the water.
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.
Low Water
Stanza one:
Twice a day the sea walks out
and leaves the harbour standing,
the boats set down on their own keels
like birds that have stopped landing.
Stanza two:
The mud shines. Old anchors show,
a bicycle, a broken chain,
the whole forgotten underneath
made briefly plain.
Stanza three:
Then, without a sound at all,
it turns and starts to come.
The bicycle goes under first.
The harbour lifts. The boats go dumb.
1. How does the line length change in the third stanza, and what does that do?
2. How many stanzas are there, and what does each one cover?
3. Why is each stanza labelled in this poem?
LessonPrint · SL.4.5 · Set 7 · free to copy for classroom use
Answer key — Reading a Poem Aloud
Set 7. Prints on its own sheet.
1.1. "A thing becomes what people make of it." 2. Three — the quarry working and stopping, what is underwater now, and what the children call it. 3. "the ledge, the crane, the drill-marks in the standing rock, the tracks, the shed, the loading lane".
2.1. The last stanza uses short sentences — "The bicycle goes under first." — which makes the tide's return feel quick. 2. Three — the tide going out, what is revealed, and the tide coming back. 3. The labels mark the three stages: the sea walking out, the mud showing, and the harbour lifting.
Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to SL.4.5 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.