How Animals Survive Winter: Grade 3 Reading Passage

About this worksheet

A third grade science passage about hibernation, migration and the clever ways squirrels, snowshoe hares and wood frogs get through the winter. A free printable 3rd grade nonfiction passage (164 words) with multiple-choice what/how questions, a vocabulary match 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

Winter is a hard time for animals. Food is hard to find, and the weather is cold. Animals have different ways to survive until spring. Some animals hibernate. Hibernation is like a very deep sleep. A woodchuck's heartbeat and breathing slow way down, and its body cools off, so it uses very little energy. It lives on fat it stored by eating lots of food in summer and fall. Black bears rest in dens all winter, too.

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.