Skip to content
LessonPrint

Reading a Grade 5 Fact Text is a free printable Grade 5 English worksheet on reading a whole argued text and answering across it, aligned to Common Core standard RI.5.10. 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 17 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 5 Fact Text

RI.5.10

NameDate

Read the text, then answer the questions.

1.Read the text, then answer the questions.

What Sleep Is For

Sleep is not switching off. Parts of the brain are busier asleep than awake. Two claims are well supported. The first is that sleep consolidates memory: during deep sleep, the day's experiences are replayed and moved from short-term storage into long-term. Interrupt deep sleep and recall of the previous day drops measurably. The second is that sleep clears waste. The spaces between brain cells widen during sleep, and fluid washes through, removing proteins that build up while awake. A third claim — that a particular number of hours suits everybody — is not supported. Need varies with age and between individuals, and self-reported sleep is unreliable. Teenagers are a special case. Their body clocks genuinely shift later at puberty, which is a biological fact rather than a preference, and school start times mostly ignore it.

  1. 1. Determine two main ideas of this text and explain how details support each.
  2. 2. What happens to recall when deep sleep is interrupted?
  3. 3. What happens to the spaces between brain cells during sleep?
  4. 4. What shifts in teenagers at puberty?
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.

Can You Do Two Things at Once?

People say they multitask. Mostly they do not. The brain can run two tasks together only if at least one is automatic. Walking and talking works because walking is automatic for an adult. Reading and listening to speech does not, because both need the same language system. What feels like multitasking is usually rapid switching. Each switch costs time — a fraction of a second to disengage and re-engage — and the costs add up. In experiments, people doing two tasks alternately take substantially longer in total than doing them one after the other, and make more errors. They also do not notice. Switching feels efficient because you are busy the whole time. The practical conclusion is unpopular but consistent: for anything demanding, doing one thing at a time is faster.

  1. 1. When can the brain genuinely run two tasks together?
  2. 2. The text makes two claims about multitasking. Identify the evidence for each.
  3. 3. What is the author's purpose, and how do you know?
  4. 4. Determine two main ideas of this text and explain how details support each.

LessonPrint · RI.5.10 · Set 17 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Reading a Grade 5 Fact Text

Set 17. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. First, sleep consolidates memory — supported by the replay and the drop in recall. Second, sleep clears waste — supported by the widening spaces and the fluid. 2. It drops measurably. 3. They widen, and fluid washes through. 4. Their body clocks shift later.
  2. 2.1. Only if at least one of them is automatic. 2. That it requires an automatic task — walking and talking against reading and listening. That switching is costly — the timed experiments and error rates. 3. To correct the belief that people multitask — the first two sentences state it and reject it. 4. First, real multitasking needs an automatic task — supported by walking and talking. Second, switching costs time and accuracy — supported by the experimental result.

More practice for RI.5.10

Read and understand harder Grade 4-5 information texts on your own.

Teaching this next? Reading Grade 5 Informational Texts is the 40-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 5 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to RI.5.10 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.