Nonfiction reading passages

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Inference questions are short answer; the rest are multiple choice.
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4th grade nonfiction reading comprehension passage with questions and an answer key · 2 pages + answer key

NameDateGrade 4 readingMary Anning, Fossil HunterRead the article. Then answer the questions. Fill in the bubble or write your answer.Informational text · 4th grade · 270 wordsMore than two hundred years ago, in the seaside town of Lyme Regis, England, a girl1named Mary Anning walked the cliffs and beaches looking for “curiosities.” Her familysold the strange stone shells and bones they found to tourists to help pay for food.Mary was born in 1799, and her family was poor. Her father taught her how to find andclean fossils before he died when she was eleven.The cliffs near Lyme Regis are full of fossils from a time when the area was covered by a2warm sea. Storms and landslides often broke off pieces of the cliffs, uncovering newfossils. Mary learned to search right after storms, even though the crumbling cliffswere dangerous.Around 1811, Mary’s brother Joseph found a strange skull. About a year later, Mary3uncovered the rest of the skeleton. It was an ichthyosaur, a sea reptile that looked a bitlike a dolphin. In 1823, she discovered the first complete skeleton of a plesiosaur, areptile with a small head, a long neck, and four flippers.Mary’s discoveries helped scientists understand that some animals had lived long ago4and then disappeared forever, an idea that was new and surprising at the time. Famousscientists visited her to learn from her and buy her fossils.But because she was a woman, Mary was not allowed to join the Geological Society of5London, the most important group of Earth scientists in Britain. Often, the men whobought her fossils wrote about them without mentioning her name.Today, Mary Anning is remembered as one of the most important fossil hunters in6history.Questions1.Where did Mary Anning live?AParis, FranceBLondon, EnglandCBoston, MassachusettsDLyme Regis, Englandedulist.com/worksheets/reading-comprehension/nonfictionPage 1 of 2

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Nonfiction reading passages on topics kids actually want to read about: monarch butterflies that fly up to 3,000 miles to Mexico, volcanoes, fossil hunter Mary Anning, honeybees, sharks, beavers, the water cycle, the International Space Station, coral reefs and Harriet Tubman. Each article sticks to well-established facts and comes with questions on details, vocabulary, inference and main idea.

Informational text needs different reading skills than stories. Kids learn to use headings, follow cause and effect, and pull out key facts. This set opens at 4th grade; change the grade for simpler articles about frogs, ladybugs or the moon, or for 5th grade history and science. After reading, try an informative writing prompt so your child can explain the topic in their own words, or practice the main idea.

Tips for using it

  • Before reading, ask what your child already knows about the topic, and after, what they learned.
  • Have your child turn one fact into a question for you to answer.
  • Look up a photo or short video of the topic after reading.

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Questions

What is informational text?

Informational text is nonfiction that explains facts about the natural or social world, like science articles, biographies and history. Its main purpose is to inform.

Why do kids need nonfiction reading practice?

Much of what students read in later grades and on tests is informational. Reading nonfiction builds background knowledge and vocabulary, which strongly supports comprehension in every subject.

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