Why Do I Have a Cold? Reading Comprehension Worksheet

Reading comprehension is the point where decoding turns into understanding, and a science topic is one of the best places to practice it. This Why Do I Have a Cold? Reading Comprehension Worksheet gives 3rd graders a short, friendly nonfiction story that answers a question almost every child has asked out loud: why do I have a cold? Students follow Naomi through one week of sniffles and learn what a virus is, how germs travel from a jump rope to a pair of hands, and why a runny nose is actually the body doing its job. Because the science is carried by a story, children practice finding details, explaining causes, and using evidence without ever leaving the passage.

The sheet is built as a three-page set. Page one holds the illustrated story, page two holds the questions, and page three is the answer key. Read the passage aloud together the first time, then let students reread it on their own before they answer. This 3rd grade health and nutrition worksheet works well as a whole-class reading lesson, a partner activity during a unit on the human body, a literacy center, or homework after a week when half the class has been sneezing. Encourage students to underline the sentence in the story that proves each answer before they write anything down.

What’s Included

• 1 print-ready PDF worksheet
• Answer key
• A 240-word nonfiction story about catching a cold, with an original illustration
• 4 fill-in-the-bubble comprehension questions
• 2 written-response questions that ask for evidence from the text

This Why Do I Have a Cold? Reading Comprehension Worksheet helps children in three specific ways. First, it builds vocabulary that transfers: words like virus, germ, and mucus are introduced inside sentences that explain them, so students practice using context clues on real science words. Second, the multiple-choice questions ask for details pulled from four different paragraphs, which pushes students to search the whole text instead of skimming the first line. Third, the two written-response questions require an explanation backed by a detail from the story, which is exactly the kind of thinking state reading assessments ask for at this grade.

Keep the learning going after the worksheet is finished. Time a twenty-second handwashing song at the sink and talk about why the timing matters. Have students draw a simple comic strip that shows how a germ travels from one person to another, then label each frame with a cause and an effect. Ask children to interview a family member about the last time they had a cold and report back with two facts. You can also start a class chart of healthy habits, adding a new one each week, and let students explain which habit from the story they plan to try first.

Related Resources

• Your Amazing Brain Reading Comprehension Worksheet
• Swimming Lessons Reading Comprehension Worksheet
• Human Body Systems Worksheet
• Wash My Hands Song (Have Fun Teaching on YouTube)