Raining Cats and Dogs Reading Comprehension Worksheet

The Raining Cats and Dogs Reading Comprehension Worksheet helps students read a short nonfiction passage closely and figure out what a familiar saying really means. An idiom is a group of words that means something different from what the words say, and weather gives us some of the most colorful ones. This raining cats and dogs reading comprehension worksheet asks students to find evidence in the text, use context to name a new word, and decide on the main idea of the whole passage.

The passage explains why heavy rain is called raining cats and dogs, where that saying may have started, and what people mean when they say rain is coming down in sheets, that someone is under the weather, or that a storm is brewing. It is written at a third grade reading level. Students then work through four multiple choice questions, one vocabulary in context item, and one short written response. Read the passage aloud first, or let students read it on their own and underline the sentence that answers each question.

What’s Included

• A one page nonfiction passage about four common weather idioms
• Four multiple choice questions covering detail, evidence, and main idea
• One vocabulary in context item using a word from the passage
• One short response item asking students to explain a saying in their own words
• A complete answer key with sample responses

Three Reasons This Helps Kids

• Figurative language trips up readers who understand every single word, so naming it early builds real comprehension
• Answering with text evidence teaches students to prove an answer instead of guessing
• Sayings students already hear at home make an abstract skill feel familiar and fun

Teacher and Parent Ideas

• Use this 3rd grade idioms worksheet as a warm up, a center activity, or homework
• Ask students to highlight the sentence that proves each multiple choice answer
• Start an idiom wall and add a new saying every time the class hears one
• Let students draw the funny literal picture beside what the saying really means

Related Resources

• It’s Raining Cats and Dogs Idioms Activity
• Matching Idioms Worksheet
• Completing Idioms Worksheet
• Weather Song Video