Reading Comprehension for Kids

Ten short reading comprehension passages for young readers, illustrated and ready to print. Each page holds one passage of two or three sentences and the questions that go with it, so a child finishes a whole page in a few minutes rather than working through a long worksheet.

They come as two free PDFs. Both are below.

What is in each set

Set 1 — three questions a page

The easier of the two, and the better place to start. Five passages, each with a picture and three multiple-choice questions.

• Ducks in a Pond — Nat walks by the pond in the evening and sees ducks.
• David and Mary — Mary holds an old blind man by the hand and helps him.
• Molly's Doll — Molly lets her friend Ann hold her new doll.
• Pikachu the Pet Bird — a pet bird that stands on your hand and sings.
• Boys Playing in Winter — a season word and a small counting question in one passage.

Set 2 — two questions a page

Slightly harder sentences, a name line at the top, and the passage set in a coloured box. Two questions each.

• An Old Castle — a castle standing in the middle of a deep gloomy wood.
• Snow in Winter — snowflakes falling from the sky like feathers.
• The New School Bag — James saves his money because he wants to help his father.
• The Good Servant — a rich man and the servant who served him well and faithfully.
• Molly Helps Her Mother — Molly comes home from school and helps in the kitchen.

Using them with a child

• Read the passage twice before looking at the questions. Once for the story, once for the detail. With something this short, the second reading costs nothing and changes the answers.
• Ask "where does it say that?" after every answer, right or wrong. Pointing at the line in the passage is the whole skill. A child who can find the evidence is comprehending; a child who cannot is remembering, or guessing.
• One page is a full session for a five or six year old. These are deliberately short so that finishing feels normal.
• Read it aloud together first if the child is still decoding. Comprehension and decoding are different jobs, and asking for both at once is what makes worksheets stall.

Which set first

Set 1 suits a Grade 1 reader, or a confident kindergartener with an adult reading alongside. Set 2 has longer sentences and a few words worth stopping on — gloomy, faithfully, servant — which makes it a reasonable step up, and fine for Grade 2.