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Self-Correct as You Read is a free printable Grade 4 English worksheet on going back over an information text to fix understanding, aligned to Common Core standard RF.4.4. 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 14 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.

Self-Correct as You Read

RF.4.4

NameDate

Read the text, then answer the questions.

1.Read the text, then answer the questions.

Lichen

A lichen is not one organism. It is a fungus and an alga living as one body. The fungus provides the structure and holds water. The alga photosynthesises and makes sugar. Separated, the fungus starves and the alga dries out. Because it needs no soil, a lichen can grow on bare rock, on gravestones and on the roofs of cars that have not moved for a decade. Lichens grow extremely slowly — some crustose species less than a millimetre a year. Scientists use that rate to date rock surfaces, a method called lichenometry. Lichens also absorb whatever is in the air. Where the air is dirty, they disappear, which makes them a living measure of pollution.

  1. 1. What two organisms make up a lichen?
  2. 2. How slowly can a crustose lichen grow?
  3. 3. What does "absorb" mean here?
  4. 4. What is lichenometry?
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. What does the polyp draw from the sea water?
  2. 2. What does "bleaching" mean in this text?
  3. 3. What does "expel" mean here?
  4. 4. How big is a coral polyp?

LessonPrint · RF.4.4 · Set 14 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Self-Correct as You Read

Set 14. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. A fungus and an alga. 2. Less than a millimetre a year. 3. Take in from the air around it. 4. Using lichen growth rates to date rock surfaces.
  2. 2.1. Calcium. 2. Coral turning white and starving after losing its algae. 3. Push out — the polyps force the algae out. 4. The size of a pinhead.

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to RF.4.4 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.