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Summarise an Information Text is a free printable Grade 4 English worksheet on summarising without copying the opening sentence, aligned to Common Core standard RI.4.2. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions, 19 of them with 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. 19 of these 25 sets ask different questions — this skill does not have 25 questions to give. The rest reorder them, so no two pupils have the same paper in front of them.

Summarise an Information Text

RI.4.2

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. Summarise this text.
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. Summarise this text.

LessonPrint · RI.4.2 · Set 20 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Summarise an Information Text

Set 20. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Wolves returned to Yellowstone in 1995, changed where elk grazed, allowed willow and beavers back, and are credited — with some dispute — with reshaping the rivers.
  2. 2.1. Röntgen noticed an unexplained glow in 1895, tested it alone for seven weeks, photographed his wife's hand bones, and within a year hospitals were using X-rays.

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to RI.4.2 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.