Jumping on the Sofa Reading Comprehension Worksheet

Third graders are still learning to hold a whole story in their heads while they read it. They have to follow a character from a problem, through an attempt, to a solution, and then point back to the words that prove what happened. This Jumping on the Sofa Reading Comprehension Worksheet gives them an original short story to do exactly that with. Jordan wants to bounce on the living room sofa, his mom explains what the sofa is really for, and he and his sister Aubree invent a safe landing pad of their own instead. The story is short enough to finish in one sitting and rich enough to ask real questions about.

This 3rd grade reading comprehension worksheet is built as a three-page set. Page one carries the illustrated story, page two carries the questions, and page three is the complete answer key. Part A asks four multiple-choice questions that reach into all three paragraphs, so a student cannot answer them from the first few lines alone. Part B asks for a written response with two details from the text, which is where the real comprehension work happens. Use it for guided reading, for an independent literacy center, for a quick formative check, or as homework a parent can score in a minute.

What’s Included

• 1 print-ready PDF worksheet
• Answer key
• 1 original 229-word story, 4 multiple-choice questions and 1 written response

There are three reasons this resource helps children learn the skill. First, the story is written to the third-grade reading level and measured against it, so students practice comprehension instead of fighting the words. Second, the questions in this Jumping on the Sofa Reading Comprehension Worksheet are spread across the whole passage and each one has exactly one defensible answer, so a student has to reread and find evidence rather than guess from the shape of the choices. Third, the written response asks for two details, which teaches children to support an opinion with text evidence, the move that every reading assessment is really testing.

Teachers and parents can keep building this skill in other ways. Ask children to retell the story in three sentences, one for the problem, one for the attempt, and one for the solution. Have them draw the landing pad exactly as the text describes it and label the parts they found in the words. Let them write one more paragraph about what Jordan and Aubree try next. Reading the story aloud a second time, with children raising a hand whenever they hear a detail that answers a question, turns rereading into a game instead of a chore.

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