The Voice on the Phone: Grade 5 Reading Passage

About this worksheet

Zoe thinks her mom's job as a 911 dispatcher is boring, until a visit to the emergency center changes her mind before Career Day. A free printable 5th grade short story (225 words) with multiple-choice what/why/vocabulary/how questions and a short written answer. Answer key on page 2. Fifth graders can use it to practice main idea, vocabulary in context and answers supported by the text.

On this sheet

When Ms. Brooks announced Career Day, Zoe groaned. Her classmates' parents were firefighters, pilots and veterinarians. Zoe's mom was a 911 dispatcher. "She just talks on the phone all night," Zoe told her friend Kai. "How do I make that sound exciting?" That weekend, Mom took Zoe to visit the emergency communications center. The room was dim and quiet, filled with desks that each had several glowing computer screens. Dispatchers wore headsets and spoke in calm, steady voices.

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. Free for personal, family and classroom use.