Running Health and Fitness Reading Comprehension Worksheet

Reading comprehension is the ability to read a text, understand what it says, and explain it in your own words. This running health and fitness reading comprehension worksheet gives 3rd Grade students a short nonfiction passage about running and the way exercise helps the heart, the brain, and the mood. Students read the passage closely, then answer questions that ask them to find the main idea, locate supporting details, and use context clues to work out the meaning of a new science word.

This 3rd grade fitness worksheet is built for independent practice, small-group work, or a quick reading warm-up. Page one holds the illustrated passage, page two holds the questions, and the final page is a complete answer key, so grading takes seconds. Students read the passage first, fill in the bubble beside the best answer for each multiple-choice question, then finish three sentences using the words in the word box. The last activity asks them to explain two ways running helps the body using details from the text, which builds the evidence-based writing habit that state assessments look for.

What’s Included

• 1 print-ready PDF worksheet
• Answer key
• 1 illustrated nonfiction passage, 4 multiple-choice questions, 3 word-bank sentences, and 1 written-response prompt

There are three reasons this running health and fitness reading comprehension worksheet helps children learn. First, the passage is written at a true third-grade reading level, so students spend their energy on comprehension instead of decoding. Second, the questions climb in difficulty, moving from main idea to supporting detail to vocabulary to a short written explanation, which mirrors the way reading is tested. Third, the topic doubles as a health lesson, so children learn why daily exercise matters while they practice reading.

Teachers and parents can stretch this lesson in easy ways. Read the passage aloud together, then ask students to retell it in three sentences. Take the class outside for a five-minute run and let students describe how they feel before and after. Have children make a poster listing every benefit of running they found in the text. You can also pair this sheet with a main-idea graphic organizer, or ask students to write a short letter convincing a friend to try running for five minutes a day.

Related Resources

• Walking Health and Fitness Reading Comprehension Worksheet
• Team Sports Health and Fitness Reading Comprehension Worksheet
• Food Groups Health and Fitness Reading Comprehension Worksheet
• Running Song by Have Fun Teaching (YouTube)