5th grade reading passages and comprehension worksheets
5th grade reading comprehension passage with questions and an answer key · 2 pages + answer key
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Fifth grade reading passages of about 300 to 340 words in smaller 12-point print. Stories feature a chess club underdog, a lost dog and a lesson in responsibility, and a grandmother's recipe card that just says "cook until it tastes right." Nonfiction covers life on the International Space Station, coral reefs and bleaching, and Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. A free-verse poem celebrates a pair of worn-out sneakers.
Fifth graders are expected to quote accurately from a text when explaining it, determine theme, compare characters, and analyze how an author uses evidence. Each passage has six questions mixing recall, vocabulary in context, inference and main idea; turn on Short answer for a full written response set. Next: try opinion writing prompts, 5th grade writing prompts or 5th grade vocabulary.
Tips for using it
- Ask for a direct quote in at least one written answer per passage.
- After the history passage, have your child list three questions they'd still like answered.
- Use Passages per worksheet to build a three-passage practice test.
Variations
All reading comprehension worksheetsQuestions
How long are 5th grade reading passages?
Practice passages for 5th grade are often 300 to 600 words. Ours are about 300 to 340 words so a passage and six questions fit a 20 to 30 minute session.
What if 5th grade passages are too hard?
Step down to the 4th grade passages for a few weeks. A child's reading level matters more than the grade label, so choose text your child can read with few errors and build up from there.