Grandma’s Apple Tree Reading Comprehension Worksheet

Reading comprehension is the work a child does after the words are decoded: holding a story in mind, going back to find the detail that answers a question, and drawing a conclusion the text supports without stating it outright. By third grade, students are expected to do all three with a passage they read on their own. This Grandparents Day reading comprehension worksheet gives them a warm seasonal story to practise on, so the skill is built on something a child actually wants to read rather than a paragraph about nothing in particular.

The sheet opens with an original Grandparents Day reading passage called Grandma’s Apple Tree, written and measured to the third-grade band. Ellie spends Grandparents Day helping her grandmother plant a young apple tree, and the story follows the pair from the hard first shovelful of dirt to the moment they sit back on the grass and try to picture the tree tall. The questions live on their own page, so students can keep the story in front of them while they answer. Read it aloud together the first time, then let students reread it quietly before they pick up a pencil.

What’s Included

• 1 print-ready PDF worksheet
• Answer key
• 1 original 227-word third-grade story with a full-colour illustration
• 4 multiple choice questions and 1 written response

Three things make this Grandparents Day reading comprehension worksheet work. First, every question is answerable from the passage, so a student who goes back and rereads is rewarded, which is the habit the sheet is really teaching. Second, the questions climb: two ask for a stated detail, one asks why something happened, and the last asks what will most likely happen to the tree, so the page moves from recall into inference the way a state assessment does. Third, the written response asks for two details rather than one, which pushes students to gather evidence instead of settling for the first thing they remember.

Once the page is finished, keep the story working. Ask students to retell it in four steps and check their order against the text. Have them write a short thank-you note to a grandparent or an older friend, borrowing one detail from the story to make it specific. Plant something together — a bean in a cup on the windowsill will do — and start a measuring chart, which ties the last question to something the class can actually watch happen. Students can also interview a grandparent about a tree, a garden or a house they remember, and read the answers back to the group.

Related Resources

• Grandparents Day Reading Comprehension Worksheet
• The Playground Reading Comprehension Worksheet
• Grandparents Day Addition Worksheet
• Story Elements Song