1st grade reading comprehension worksheets

A real sample sheet.

16 reading comprehension skills at 1st grade, one sheet each, free with its answer key: animal reading comprehension, cause and effect, characters and setting, and more.

Most sheets change with every click. Any other skill prints from its row below. Examples and teaching notes

Reading passages

  • Animal reading comprehension An animal passage tells how an animal's body and habits help it live. Answer from the passage, not from what you already know about the animal.
  • Fact vs opinion A fact can be checked and proven: a spider has eight legs. An opinion tells what someone thinks or feels: spiders are creepy. Ask the test question: could we look this up and settle it?
  • Fiction reading comprehension The answers hide in the story. Read it once for fun, then go back and point to the exact sentence that proves each answer.
  • Main idea and details The main idea is what the whole passage is about, in one sentence. The details are the smaller facts that back it up.
  • Making inferences An inference is a smart guess the writer never says out loud. You mix a clue from the text with what you already know: if a character shivers and rubs her hands, you can infer she is cold.
  • Nonfiction reading comprehension Nonfiction is true information. Read to find out what the passage teaches, and be ready to point to the fact that answers each question.
  • Reading fluency passages Read the passage out loud for one minute. Read it the way you would talk: smooth, at a steady pace, and with the feeling the sentences call for. Fast is not the goal; smooth and accurate is.
  • Science reading comprehension A science passage explains how something in the world works. Find the sentence that answers each question, even when it surprises you.

Comprehension skills

  • Cause and effect A cause is why something happened. An effect is what happened because of it. Ask: what happened, and what made it happen?
  • Characters and setting Every story answers three questions: who is it about, where does it happen, and when? The characters are the who. The setting is the where and when.
  • Compare and contrast Comparing finds how two things are alike. Contrasting finds how they differ. Good readers do both at once.
  • Making predictions A prediction is a smart guess about what happens next. Find the clues, add what you know, and pick the ending the clues point to.
  • Picture sequencing Look at all the pictures first. Find the one that happens first and write 1 in its box, then keep going.
  • Problem and solution Find what is going wrong, and find what fixes it. The best stories also show tries that failed before the fix that worked.
  • Sequencing Events in a passage happen in order. Keep track of what happened first, next, and last, and watch for time words that tell you.
  • Text features Text features are a book's built-in helpers: headings, bold words, the table of contents, the glossary, the index. Good readers use them before reading, not just during.

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