4th grade text evidence worksheets

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Fourth grade claims get less literal: which sentence shows a character planned ahead, or that a discovery surprised scientists. The right line still proves it directly, and one question usually flips the direction: here is a line, what does it prove?

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

Each click picks one of the 26 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.

The Stripes That Bother Flies

For a long time, nobody could explain zebra stripes, and it was not for lack of trying. Ideas came and went for a century. A zebra on an open plain is about as hidden as a barcode on a golf course, so the stripes are…

  1. Which sentence shows stripes are NOT for hiding? A zebra on an open plain is about as hidden as a barcode on a golf course, so the stripes are clearly not for hiding. · For a long time, nobody could explain zebra stripes, and it was not for lack of trying. Ideas came and went for a century. · Their bites carry diseases, and horses and zebras are among their favorite targets. · Flies circle zebras as much as they circle horses.

    Answer: A zebra on an open plain is about as hidden as a barcode on a golf course, so the stripes are clearly not for hiding.

  2. Which sentence tells exactly where the flies fail? Landing is where they fail. · Biting flies are more than a nuisance for animals of the African grasslands. A grazing animal cannot swat, so on bad days it burns energy stamping, twitching, and moving instead of eating and resting. · The clearest tests used dress-up. · No one experiment settles a question this old.

Each print picks one of the 26 passages written for this grade, and its questions come with it. With 26 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 26 passages, 256 to 280 words long. All 13 of 3rd grade's passages are here too, plus 13 more.

Some of the titles: The Second Sandwich, The Portage, The Fix, Built for the Dry, The Hammer That Doesn't Hurt, Squirrel Proof.

Every version prints on US Letter or A4, with its answer key on the last page.

How to teach this

Play lawyer and judge. Your child is the lawyer; you are a stubborn judge who believes nothing without a quoted line. The sheet's claims are the case, and 'because the passage says so' loses in your courtroom every time.

Watch for: Kids pick the sentence that mentions the same TOPIC as the claim. Evidence must support the claim, not merely be nearby. The wrong options are true lines from the same passage for exactly this reason. The best evidence is often not the most exciting sentence. A quiet line that shows the fact directly beats a dramatic line that only hints.

Common questions about 4th grade text evidence

What makes the wrong choices wrong?
Nothing, as sentences. They are true lines from the same passage that simply prove something else. The skill is matching the line to the claim, which is why topic-matching alone fails.
Why do some questions quote a line and ask what it proves?
That is the same skill run backward, and tests love both directions. A reader who can travel claim-to-line and line-to-claim owns the connection.

Related worksheets

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Want a different passage? Print again. Each print picks one of the 26.

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

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