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Reading a Grade 5 Text is a free printable Grade 5 English worksheet on reading a whole Grade 5 text and answering across it, aligned to Common Core standard RL.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 8 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.

Reading a Grade 5 Text

RL.5.10

NameDate

Read the text, then answer the questions.

1.Read the text, then answer the questions.

The Mill: Mr Whately's Account

I did not close the mill. The mill closed. For eleven years I put my own money in. In 1979 I sold my house and moved into the office above the weaving floor, and nobody knew that but my accountant. People say I should have told them earlier. I have thought about that more than they have. If I had said in January that we might not last the year, half the workforce would have left by February, and then we certainly would not have. I held on until the day I could not pay them. Then I told them. I have been told this was cowardice. I would call it arithmetic.

  1. 1. What did he do in 1979?
  2. 2. What do his actions in 1979 tell you, and why does he mention that nobody knew?
  3. 3. Summarise this account.
  4. 4. How long did Mr Whately put his own money into the mill?
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.

The Mill: Ivy Sallow's Account

We knew by the thread. You cannot work a loom for twenty-two years and not notice when the good cotton stops coming. From about the March, it was the cheap stuff, and it broke. So we knew something. What we did not know was how long we had, and that is the part I mind. I could have been looking. My sister found work in Derby that spring and asked me twice. I said the mill would see me out. He stood on a crate on the Friday and told us. Somebody asked how long he had known. He said he would rather not say. That was the answer, really.

  1. 1. Summarise this account.
  2. 2. How long had Ivy worked a loom?
  3. 3. What did Ivy tell her sister?
  4. 4. Determine a theme of this account and support it with details.

LessonPrint · RL.5.10 · Set 8 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Reading a Grade 5 Text

Set 8. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Sold his house and moved into the office above the weaving floor. 2. He sacrificed his house for the mill, and the secrecy shows he expected no credit for it. 3. Whately funded the mill privately for eleven years, sold his house in 1979, kept the danger quiet to stop staff leaving, and told them only when he could not pay. 4. Eleven years.
  2. 2.1. Ivy knew from the failing thread that the mill was struggling, turned down work in Derby, and learned the closure date only when Whately announced it on a Friday. 2. Twenty-two years. 3. That the mill would see her out. 4. Being kept from information takes away the chance to act — she could have taken Derby if she had known how long she had.

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