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 6 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.
Petition Against the Railway
A petition sent to Parliament in 1844 by canal workers and boat owners.
To the honourable members,
We are boatmen and wharf workers of this valley.
The proposed railway will take the coal and corn we carry.
Two hundred families live by the canal.
We ask that the line be refused, or that work be found for us.
Signed by 84 hands.
1. Did the petition succeed?
2. What does the petition not tell you?
2.Look at the source, then answer the questions.
Canal Toll Table
A table of charges posted at the canal wharf by the canal company, 1840.
GRAND UNION CANAL: CHARGES PER TON
Coal ......................... 2 pence a mile
Stone and gravel ............. 1 penny a mile
Corn and flour ............... 3 pence a mile
Manufactured goods ........... 5 pence a mile
Barges must give way to loaded craft.
1. What does the toll table not tell you?
2. Which cargo was the canal company most keen to carry cheaply?
LessonPrint · D2.His.11.3-5 · Set 6 · free to copy for classroom use
Answer key — Reading Past the Words
Set 6. Prints on its own sheet.
1.1. No. The railway opened in 1846, two years later. 2. It does not tell you what Parliament replied.
2.1. It does not tell you who worked on the barges. 2. Stone and gravel, since it charged only 1 penny a mile for it.
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.