Empathy Reading Comprehension Passages — Grade 5
Helping can make things harder.
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About this resource
Helping can make things harder. These empathy reading comprehension passages give Grade 5 readers ten texts at F&P levels S–V, including a privilege puzzle, a mirror-and-window metaphor and a look at empathy across cultures. The set builds Social Awareness, one of the five CASEL competencies, with fifth-grade questions about perspective and effect.
What students practice
- Seeing how classmates experience the same year differently
- Checking before helping
- Choosing the window over the mirror
- Making a sincere second apology
- Seeing how cultures express care differently
What’s inside
- 10 passages at F&P levels S–V, in text types such as how-to guides, science pieces and student profiles
- 5 multiple-choice questions per passage
- 2 open-ended questions per passage for written answers or discussion
- Answer key covering all 50 empathy multiple-choice questions
- 36 pages, with an overview page of levels, text types and SEL focus
A look inside
- The Privilege Puzzle: two classmates in the same school year have different challenges.
- Meet Theo: The Silent Supporter: supporting grieving classmates by showing up and listening.
- The Mirror and the Window: a reflection on finally seeing what a friend was going through.
- The Apology That Worked: a failed apology and how the second attempt landed.
- How Cultures Express Empathy Differently: words, silence and gestures that show the same care.
How to use these empathy reading passages
- Reading groups at levels S–V, with a compare-and-contrast task across two passages
- Written responses to the open-ended questions as a personal reflection
- SEL reading comprehension: read When Helping Isn’t Helping and talk about helping in ways that serve the other person
- Independent practice or homework with the 50-question answer key
Grade fit
Written for Grade 5 readers, with levels from S to V. These reading passages with questions suit students ready to think about privilege, grief and cultural difference.
Digital version
With the interactive digital version, you share one link and students read each passage and answer the questions on any device, with no student logins. At the end they download an answer sheet to hand in.
Good to know
Meet Theo: The Silent Supporter is about supporting grieving classmates. Read it ahead of time if someone in your class has lost a loved one.
Pairs well with
To carry the empathy theme beyond reading, pair it with Empathy Role Play Scenarios for acting it out and Empathy Task Cards for written responses.
Questions teachers ask
What is the Mirror and the Window passage about?
The Mirror and the Window is a first-person reflection that uses a metaphor: a student chooses the window over the mirror and finally sees what a friend was going through.
Do students need accounts for the digital version?
No. For the empathy passages you share one link, and students open it on any device with no login.
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