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 17 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.
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.
Newspaper Report: The Railway Opens
A report in the county newspaper, printed the week the railway opened in 1846.
THE LINE IS OPEN
The first train reached the county town in one hour.
By road the same journey took most of a day.
Farmers may now send milk to the town while it is fresh.
The canal company has cut its charges in answer.
Some say the noise and smoke will spoil the valley.
1. Did everybody welcome the railway?
2. What does the report not tell you?
2.Look at the source, then answer the questions.
County Trade Directory
A page from a printed trade directory of the county, 1850.
TRADES OF THE VALLEY, 1850
Boat builders ................ 2
Blacksmiths .................. 7
Railway porters .............. 11
Wharf labourers .............. 4
Milliners .................... 3
Schoolmasters ................ 2
1. What had happened to canal work by 1850?
2. What does the directory not tell you?
LessonPrint · D2.His.11.3-5 · Set 17 · free to copy for classroom use
Answer key — Reading Past the Words
Set 17. Prints on its own sheet.
1.1. No. Some said the noise and smoke would spoil the valley. 2. It does not tell you what happened to the canal company afterwards.
2.1. It had shrunk: only 4 wharf labourers remain against 11 railway porters. 2. It does not tell you what any of these workers were paid.
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.