1st grade nonfiction reading comprehension worksheets
First graders read short true passages about how the world works and answer fact questions about them. After reading, a first grader should be able to say one new thing they learned.
Free printable PDF worksheet, aligned to Common Core RI.1.1.
A new sheet every click.
The kind of passages you'll get
Read the passage. Then circle the letter of the best answer for each question.
Big and Little Dogs
Dogs come in many sizes. A Great Dane is as tall as a table. A Chihuahua can fit in a basket. Big dogs and little dogs both love to play. They both need food, water, and walks. Every dog needs a kind owner.
-
How tall is a Great Dane?
as tall as a table · as tall as a house · very tiny
Answer: as tall as a table
- What can fit in a basket? a Chihuahua · a Great Dane · a pony
Every print pulls a fresh set of passages at this level, so a make-up test or a second sibling never gets the same sheet.
What's on each sheet
- Reading passage. Read the passage. Then circle the letter of the best answer for each question. One fresh passage per sheet, with its own question set.
Every version prints on US Letter or A4, with its answer key on the last page.
How to teach this
Ask the one-new-thing question after every passage: what do you know now that you didn't know before? Then anchor it to real life: after the maple syrup passage, look at the syrup bottle at breakfast. Facts that touch the child's world are the ones that stay.
Watch for: The main idea is what the whole passage teaches, not the most exciting single fact. New words are usually explained nearby; the passage wants you to understand them.
Common questions about nonfiction reading comprehension
- How is reading nonfiction different for a 1st grader?
- The goal changes from what happened to what did I learn. Nonfiction also brings special words (nectar, shearing, sap), each explained right in the passage, which is a first grader's first taste of learning vocabulary from context.
- What topics do these passages cover?
- Concrete, observable things: animals, weather, community helpers, and where familiar foods come from. Every passage sticks to facts a child can verify in their own world, because checking a fact against life is the beginning of real research.
Related worksheets
- Kindergarten nonfiction reading comprehension A step easier, same skill
- 2nd grade nonfiction reading comprehension A step harder, same skill
- 3rd grade nonfiction reading comprehension A step harder, same skill
- 4th grade nonfiction reading comprehension A step harder, same skill
- 5th grade nonfiction reading comprehension A step harder, same skill
- 6th grade nonfiction reading comprehension A step harder, same skill
- 1st grade fiction reading comprehension Same grade, nearby skill
- Nonfiction reading comprehension, all grades The full progression
- All 1st grade English worksheets Every skill at this level
- All 1st grade worksheets Everything at this level
Ready to print one?
Need a fresh set of questions? Download another copy.
Aligned to Common Core RI.1.1. Reviewed by the One more sheet team. Content version 137, updated August 2026.
Spot a mistake on this sheet? Tell us. · About these worksheets