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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 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.

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 is lichenometry?
  2. 2. What does "photosynthesises" mean?
  3. 3. How slowly can a crustose lichen grow?
  4. 4. What does "absorb" mean here?
2.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. What does "grazed" mean?
  2. 2. Which trees grew back along the rivers?
  3. 3. What does "overstated" mean here?
  4. 4. How many wolves were brought back?

LessonPrint · RF.4.4 · Set 20 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Self-Correct as You Read

Set 20. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Using lichen growth rates to date rock surfaces. 2. Makes food from sunlight. 3. Less than a millimetre a year. 4. Take in from the air around it.
  2. 2.1. Grazed means fed on growing plants — the elk grazed the valleys for seventy years. 2. Willow and aspen. 3. Overstated means claimed to be bigger than it really was — some researchers say the wolves' effect has been. 4. Fourteen.

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