Dog Dreams – Reading Comprehension Worksheet

Reading comprehension is the skill of holding on to a story while you read it, so that you can say what happened, why it happened, and what it all adds up to. This Dog Dreams Reading Comprehension Worksheet gives third graders a short original story and then asks them to prove they understood it. The passage follows a girl named Michelle, who sits beside her sleeping dog Pepper and wonders what he is seeing behind his closed eyes. The middle of the story goes inside the dream, where Pepper bounds through a wide green field after a yellow butterfly, and the last part brings him gently back to the rug. It is a warm, quiet story with a real question in the middle, which is exactly what makes the comprehension questions worth answering.

The worksheet prints on three pages. Page one is the story on its own, with a full illustration of the dream, so students can read without anything else competing for their attention. Page two holds the questions, and page three is the answer key. Use this Dog Dreams Reading Comprehension Worksheet as independent practice, as a small group reading task, as morning work, or as a quick check before a unit test. Students read the story once for enjoyment and once for detail, then answer without looking away from the text.

What’s Included

• A 223-word original story written at a third grade reading level
• Four multiple choice questions covering sequence, cause, inference and main idea
• One vocabulary-in-context item that sends students back into the passage
• One written response item asking students to support an answer with evidence
• A full answer key on the last page

Three reasons this helps kids. First, every question is answerable from the text, so students learn to look for evidence instead of guessing from memory. Second, the four question types are the ones state assessments use, so the practice transfers directly. Third, the story is short enough to reread, and rereading is how comprehension actually improves.

Teachers and parents can stretch this one page a long way. Ask students to underline the sentence that answers each question before they mark a bubble. Have partners retell the dream in three sentences and compare what each one pictured. For an extra writing task, ask students to write their own paragraph about what a pet might dream, using the story as a model. This 3rd grade reading comprehension worksheet pairs well with any unit on story elements, sequencing, or making inferences.

Related Resources

• Lake Park Reading Comprehension Worksheet
• What a Great Fall Reading Comprehension Worksheet
• Main Idea Worksheet
• Story Elements Song Video