Maryland Worksheet

Learning the fifty states goes better when a state stops being a shape on a map and starts being a real place. This Maryland worksheet introduces one small state on the east coast through a short nonfiction passage written at a third grade reading level, then asks students to go back into the text for every answer. They read about the year the state joined the country, the four states that border it, where the Old Line State nickname comes from, the huge Chesapeake Bay that nearly cuts the state in two, the flat Eastern Shore with its marshes and blue crabs, the rocky mountains in the west, the capital city of Annapolis, the harbor city of Baltimore, and the sandy ocean beach.

What makes this Maryland worksheet different from the state pages students usually meet is that nothing has to be looked up somewhere else. An older state sheet hands a child a list of blanks (state bird, state flower, date of statehood) whose answers live in an encyclopedia, so the sheet teaches searching rather than reading. Here the passage carries every fact, the four multiple choice questions send students back to a specific sentence, and the written response asks them to compare two parts of the state using two details. Read the passage aloud once as a class, let students reread it on their own, then work the questions. A full answer key is included, so this 3rd grade states worksheet works for independent practice, a substitute folder, homework, or a quick reading check inside a states unit.

What’s Included

• 1 print-ready PDF worksheet
• A 235-word nonfiction passage about Maryland with an original painted illustration of the Chesapeake Bay
• 4 fill-in-the-bubble questions and 1 written response with ruled lines
• A complete answer key with model wording for the written response

Three reasons this page helps students learn about the states. First, every question is answerable from the text, so students practice finding evidence instead of guessing or searching. Second, the facts hang together into a picture of one real place, from the mountains to the bay to the sea, which is far easier to remember than a list of isolated state symbols. Third, the written response asks students to compare two regions with two details, which is exactly the kind of short constructed response state reading tests use.

Teachers and parents can build a whole unit around a page like this. Put a large map on the wall, find the Chesapeake Bay, and trace how it splits the state. Ask students to write one more question the passage could answer and trade with a partner. Compare Maryland with a neighboring state such as Virginia or Pennsylvania and list what they share. Let students draw the picture the passage puts in their head, then check it against the illustration. Collect the pages in a binder and you have a student-made book of the fifty states by the end of the year.

Related Resources

• Maryland Word Search Worksheet
• Virginia Word Search Worksheet
• Pennsylvania Word Search Worksheet
• 50 States Song from Have Fun Teaching