Volunteer Day at the Shelter: Grade 3 Reading Passage

About this worksheet

Jayden volunteers at an animal shelter, reads a story to a shy gray cat named Smokey and helps her get ready for a new family. A free printable 3rd grade short story (135 words) with multiple-choice what/vocabulary/why questions, events to number in order 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

On Saturday morning, Jayden and his mom volunteered at the Riverside Animal Shelter. A shelter is a place that cares for pets until they find new families. Ms. Patel, the shelter manager, gave them a list of jobs. First, they filled water bowls and scooped clean litter for the cats. Next, Jayden folded a mountain of soft towels for the dogs' beds. His favorite job came last: reading a story out loud to the shy animals. A calm voice helps nervous animals feel safe.

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.