The Case of the Missing Lunch: Grade 3 Reading Passage

About this worksheet

Ruby the young detective follows three clues to find out who took her turkey sandwich. A free printable 3rd grade short story (155 words) with multiple-choice who/where/vocabulary/what questions and a short written answer. Answer key on page 2. It is aimed at third grade readers, around ages 8 to 9.

On this sheet

Every detective needs a case, and on Tuesday morning, Ruby Martinez finally got one. Her lunch had disappeared from the kitchen table while she was brushing her teeth. "I put my turkey sandwich in my blue lunch bag," Ruby told her dad. "Now the bag is on the floor, and it's empty!" Ruby grabbed her notebook and looked for clues. First, she found crumbs on the floor leading toward the living room. Next, she noticed little holes in one corner of the bag, as if something had chewed it.

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.