Muscles and Bones Health and Fitness Reading Comprehension Worksheet

Every jump, every stretch and every page a child turns is the work of two body systems acting together, and this muscles and bones health and fitness reading comprehension worksheet turns that everyday partnership into a full nonfiction reading lesson. Fifth graders read an original two-page article about the skeleton, marrow, calcium, joints, cartilage, ligaments, tendons and the paired muscles that pull the bones, then answer questions that ask them to find the main idea, locate a supporting detail, explain a cause and apply what they read to a real choice.

The passage is written to a fifth-grade reading level and measured against it, so the vocabulary and sentence length match what students meet on a state assessment. Print this muscles and bones health and fitness reading comprehension worksheet as it is for independent reading, a guided reading group, a science and literacy block, homework, a sub folder or a quick comprehension check. Students read pages one and two, answer the four multiple choice items on page three, then write a two-part response that has to be supported with a detail from the text. The answer key on the final page makes marking fast, and it references the passage so you can show a student exactly where the evidence lives.

What’s Included

• A two-page original nonfiction passage about muscles and bones, written and measured at a fifth-grade reading level
• An original full-colour illustration of two students being active in the school gym
• Four multiple choice questions covering main idea, key detail, cause and effect, and applying the text
• A written response question with four writing lines that asks for two answers and text evidence for each
• A complete answer key with a sample written response drawn straight from the passage

Three Reasons This Helps Kids

• It builds reading stamina. A seven-hundred-word article asks a fifth grader to hold information across two pages instead of skimming a paragraph, which is exactly the demand a reading test makes.
• It teaches the science while it teaches the reading. Students pick up real content vocabulary such as marrow, cartilage, tendon, ligament, voluntary and involuntary, and each of those words is explained inside the sentence that introduces it.
• It asks for evidence. The written response cannot be answered from memory, so students practise going back into a text to prove what they say.

Teacher and Parent Ideas

• Read page one together, then let students read page two on their own and compare what they noticed.
• Pair this 5th grade fitness worksheet with a movement break: read the paragraph about the biceps and triceps, then have students feel the muscle change shape on their own arm.
• Use the written response as a short exit ticket, or turn it into a class chart of healthy habits.
• Send the sheet home as homework so families can talk about food, sleep and exercise together.

Related Resources

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