Ants Work as a Team: Grade 3 Reading Passage

About this worksheet

A third grade nonfiction passage about ant colonies: the queen, worker ants, scent trails and amazing teamwork. A free printable 3rd grade nonfiction passage (158 words) with multiple-choice what/how/why questions, fill-in-the-blanks with a word bank and a short written answer. Answer key on page 2. Third graders can use it for independent reading practice and to look back in the text for evidence.

On this sheet

If you see one ant on the sidewalk, look closely. There are probably many more nearby. Ants live in large groups called colonies. Some colonies have thousands or even millions of ants. Each colony has at least one queen. Her job is to lay eggs, often thousands of them. Most of the other ants are workers, and they are all female. Some workers take care of the eggs and young ants. Some dig tunnels and build rooms in the nest. Others go out to find food.

Tips for using it

• Before reading, look at the picture and the title together and guess what the passage will be about.
• Ask your child to underline the sentence in the passage that proves each answer.
• Talk about the story afterwards: what was the problem, how was it solved, and what would your child have done?

Printing tips

Download the PDF and print at 100% (or “fit to page” on A4). Page 1 is the worksheet and page 2 is the answer key with the answers in red; print just page 1 if you want to keep the answers for checking. The PNG shows page 1 only. Free for personal, family and classroom use.