Skip to content
LessonPrint

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 18 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 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.

Railway Timetable, First Year

A timetable printed by the railway company in 1846, its first year of service. TRAINS TO THE COUNTY TOWN Leave 7 in the morning, arrive 8. Leave 1 in the afternoon, arrive 2. Leave 6 in the evening, arrive 7. Third class carriages are open to the weather. Fare: 6 pence third class, 2 shillings first class.

  1. 1. Who was third class meant for?
  2. 2. What does the timetable not tell you?

LessonPrint · D2.His.11.3-5 · Set 18 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Reading Past the Words

Set 18. 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. People who could not pay 2 shillings, since third class carriages were open to the weather. 2. It does not tell you how many people actually travelled.

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.