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Reading Past the Words is a free printable Grade 3 to Grade 5 social studies worksheet on inferring audience and purpose from a source, aligned to Common Core standard D2.His.11.3-5. 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 15 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 Past the Words

D2.His.11.3-5

NameDate

Look at the source, then answer the questions.

1.Look at the source, then answer the questions.

Workhouse Admission Register

A page from the county workhouse register, 1847, kept by the record office. ADMITTED, MARCH 1847 Hall, Sarah, 42, widow, no work since the mill shut. Hall, Thomas, 9, son. Dunn, Patrick, 55, labourer, canal work ended. Ware, Ellen, 28, no settled home. Discharged this month: 3 persons.

  1. 1. What does the register not tell you?
  2. 2. What was happening to work in the county in 1847?
2.Look at the source, then answer the questions.

County Election Poster

A poster printed for a candidate in the county council election, 1889. VOTE FOR JAMES OKONKWO For clean water in every village. For a school within walking distance of every child. For repair of the county roads. Your rates should be spent where you live. Polling on 12 January.

  1. 1. What does the poster suggest was lacking in the county?
  2. 2. What does the poster not tell you?

LessonPrint · D2.His.11.3-5 · Set 15 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Reading Past the Words

Set 15. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. It does not tell you what happened to these people afterwards. 2. It was disappearing: the mill had shut and canal work had ended.
  2. 2.1. Clean water, nearby schools and repaired roads. 2. It does not tell you whether James Okonkwo won.

More practice for D2.His.11.3-5

Work out who a source was made for and why, from the source itself.

Teaching this next? Who Was This Made For? 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 D2.His.11.3-5 of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.