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How Small Questions Serve Big Ones is a free printable Grade 3 to Grade 5 social studies worksheet on linking supporting to compelling questions, aligned to Common Core standard D1.4.3-5. 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 13 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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One paper per pupil

Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

How Small Questions Serve Big Ones

D1.4.3-5

NameDate

Draw a line from each compelling question to a supporting one.

LessonPrint · D1.4.3-5 · Set 13 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — How Small Questions Serve Big Ones

Set 13. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Compelling: Who did the railway serve? — D (Supporting: What did a third class fare cost?) 2. Compelling: Did the council serve the villages? — B (Supporting: What did the 1889 poster promise?) 3. Compelling: How reliable is the modern account? — A (Supporting: Which records does the author cite?) 4. Compelling: Who ended up in the workhouse? — C (Supporting: What reasons does the register give?)
  2. 2.1. Compelling: Could ordinary people stop it? — B (Supporting: What happened to the 1844 petition?) 2. Compelling: What did the canal company do next? — D (Supporting: Why did it cut its charges?) 3. Compelling: How fast did the valley change? — A (Supporting: What do the 1850 trade counts show?) 4. Compelling: Was the railway worth it? — C (Supporting: How many wharf families lost work?)

More practice for D1.4.3-5

Explain how the smaller questions add up to an answer to the big one.

Teaching this next? Small Questions Serving a Big One is the 45-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 3 to Grade 5 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to D1.4.3-5 of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.