Broken Computer – Reading Comprehension Worksheet

Reading a story closely means noticing what happens, why it happens, and what the characters learn along the way. This broken computer reading comprehension worksheet gives 3rd Grade students a short, funny narrative about a girl whose computer will not turn on, and then asks them to go back into the text for the answers. The passage is written at a third grade reading level, so students can decode it on their own and spend their thinking on meaning instead of on sounding out words. Every question can be answered straight from the story, which is exactly the habit standardized reading tests are built around.

What’s Included

• An original 241-word fiction passage, “Broken Computer,” written on a 3rd Grade reading level
• A full-color illustrated scene that matches the moment the problem is found
• Four multiple choice questions covering recall, location, cause and effect, and inference
• One written response item that asks for two details from the passage
• A complete answer key with text evidence written out

Why This Helps Kids

• It builds the habit of returning to the text instead of guessing from memory
• The mix of recall, cause and effect, and inference stretches students past literal answers
• The short response item teaches students to support an answer with two pieces of evidence

Reading comprehension grows when students practice on passages they can actually read. That is why this broken computer reading comprehension worksheet keeps the vocabulary and sentence length inside the third grade band while still asking real analytical questions. Students meet a character who is sure something is broken, watch her brother check the simple things first, and discover that the answer was in plain sight the whole time. The story rewards careful reading, because the clue that solves it is one short sentence in the middle of the page.

Ideas for Teachers and Parents

Use this 3rd grade reading comprehension worksheet as a warm-up, a guided reading follow-up, a homework page, or an early finisher activity. Read the passage aloud once as a class, then let students reread it silently before they answer anything. Ask students to underline the sentence that proves each answer before they fill in a bubble, and share those sentences out loud so the class hears several ways to find evidence. For the written response, model one strong answer on the board using two details, then let students write their own. Partners can trade papers and check each other’s evidence. As an extension, ask students to write about a time they thought something was broken and then found a simple fix.

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