Why is the passage on its own page?

Fourth grade passages are long enough to need a full page, so the five questions go on the next one. Your student can keep the passage beside the questions and look back at it while answering.

Do these follow fourth grade science topics?

Yes. The passages cover what fourth grade science classes study: energy, waves, how we see, rock layers and fossils, earthquakes and the seasons. They are reading practice first, so they also fit a reading block on informational text.

4th grade science reading comprehension

4th grade science reading comprehension worksheets

Fourth grade science reading comprehension worksheets: a full-page passage about energy, waves, light, rock layers or earthquakes, with five questions on the next page. Some questions connect two parts of the passage, such as a cause and its result. Answer key included.

Free printable PDF worksheet, aligned to Common Core RI.4.1, RI.4.10.

Each click picks one of the 14 passages written for this grade. Every sheet comes with its answer key. You don't need to sign up.

The kind of passages you'll get

Read the passage. Then circle the letter of the best answer for each question.

A Ball on the Ripples

Toss a ball into a calm pond, then drop a stone nearby. Rings of ripples spread outward and pass under the ball. You might expect the ripples to carry the ball away toward the shore. They do not. The ball bobs up and down, but…

What happens to the floating ball when the ripples pass? it bobs and stays about where it started · it is carried all the way to the shore · it sinks down to the bottom of the pond · it is pushed toward the dropped stone
Answer: it bobs and stays about where it started
What does the word "breaking" mean in this passage? a wave tipping over and crashing · a wave passing under a floating ball · a wave starting to grow in the wind · a wave traveling across an ocean

Each print picks one of the 14 passages written for this grade, and its questions come with it. With 14 to pick from, a second print can land on one you've used, so check the title before you hand it out.

What's on a 4th grade sheet

4th grade sheets draw from 14 passages, 283 to 292 words long. 4th and 5th grade print from the same 14 passages. What changes is the standard (RI.4.1, RI.4.10 here) and the teaching notes below. None of these passages are on 3rd grade sheets. On 3rd grade sheets they run 114 to 147 words.

Some of the titles: Summer in January, Weighing a Melting Ice Cube, Which Way Is Down?, A Star in the Daytime, Your Shadow's Daily Trip, Where Earth's Water Hides.

Reading passage. Read the passage. Then circle the letter of the best answer for each question. One 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

Fourth grade passages run to a full page, and the questions are on the next one. Have your student read the whole passage once without stopping, then answer with the passage beside them. Some questions need two sentences put together, such as a cause in one paragraph and its result in another. Ask them to name both sentences out loud before choosing.

Watch for: Choosing the answer you already believed instead of the one the passage states. Science passages often correct an everyday idea, so check the line before you circle. Skipping a science word as too hard. The passage explains it nearby, and at least one question depends on it.

Common questions about 4th grade science reading comprehension

Why is the passage on its own page?: Fourth grade passages are long enough to need a full page, so the five questions go on the next one. Your student can keep the passage beside the questions and look back at it while answering.
Do these follow fourth grade science topics?: Yes. The passages cover what fourth grade science classes study: energy, waves, how we see, rock layers and fossils, earthquakes and the seasons. They are reading practice first, so they also fit a reading block on informational text.

Related worksheets

Ready to print one?

Want a different passage? Print again. Each print picks one of the 14.

Aligned to Common Core RI.4.1, RI.4.10. Reviewed by the One more sheet team. Content version 241, updated October 2026.

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