Read a Thermometer Worksheet

Reading a thermometer is one of the first real measurement tools a child gets to use, and it turns an everyday question — how hot or cold is it? — into a number the class can compare, record, and talk about. This read a thermometer worksheet gives 3rd Grade students steady practice finding the temperature on a Fahrenheit scale, counting by the small marks between the numbered lines, and then using those temperatures to solve problems that change from morning to noon to night.

This 3rd grade temperature worksheet moves from reading to thinking in three short parts. In Part A students study four thermometers and write the temperature each one shows on the line beside it. In Part B they solve two temperature word problems that take more than one step, adding a rise and then subtracting a drop, or comparing two days to see how much cooler one of them was. In Part C they look back at two of the thermometers from Part A, work out the difference between them, and explain in writing how they found the answer. Use it as morning work, as a science center after a weather lesson, as homework, or as a quick check before a measurement unit test. Every answer is on the included key, so the sheet grades in a minute.

What’s Included

• 1 print-ready PDF worksheet
• Answer key
• 4 thermometer-reading items, 2 multi-step temperature word problems, and 1 compare-and-explain written response

There are three reasons this read a thermometer worksheet helps children learn the skill. First, every thermometer on the page is drawn to a true, evenly graduated Fahrenheit scale with small marks every two degrees, so students practice the real skill of counting past a numbered line instead of guessing between them. Second, the word problems put the temperatures to work, which is where measurement actually lives — a number is only useful once you can add to it, subtract from it, and compare it to another. Third, the final task asks children to explain their thinking in a sentence or two, and writing the reasoning down is what turns a lucky answer into an understood one.

Teachers and parents can stretch this skill well past the page. Hang an outdoor thermometer where children can reach it and record the temperature at the same three times every day for a week, then talk about when it was warmest and by how much. Ask students to predict tomorrow’s high before they check, and see who came closest. Sort clothing pictures into what you would wear at 30 degrees, 60 degrees, and 90 degrees. Compare the temperature in the sunshine with the temperature in the shade and ask why they are different. Or keep a simple weather journal all month and graph the numbers at the end — the class will see the seasons change in their own handwriting.

Related Resources

• Temperature Fahrenheit Worksheet
• Temperature Celsius Worksheet
• Temperature Word Search Worksheet
• Weather Song (Have Fun Teaching video)