Goal Setting Reading Comprehension Passages — Grade 3

About this resource

Sled dogs don’t start with the long race; they build up one short run at a time. These goal setting reading comprehension passages give Grade 3 students ten readings at F&P levels N–P that turn a wish into something a third grader actually does, from juggling three beanbags to playing a fast, bouncy song on the ukulele. Use it as SEL reading comprehension for Self-Management in the reading block.

What students practice

• Making a fuzzy goal clear and specific
• Building toward a big goal in stages
• Changing the plan when obstacles get in the way
• Building a daily practice habit
• Asking for help with a goal

What’s inside

• 10 passages at F&P levels N–P, from science writing to a fable
• A short takeaway naming each passage’s lesson
• 5 multiple-choice questions per passage on details, inference, vocabulary, structure and central ideas
• 2 open-ended prompts per passage
• A multiple-choice answer key on the last page of the PDF
• 44 pages

A look inside

• How to Make a Goal Clear: turning “get better at math” into “I will say all my sixes facts without stopping by Friday.”
• The Goal That Kept Getting Bumped: weekend hockey keeps getting in the way, so Mustafa keeps his reading goal and moves it to weekday bus rides.
• Meet Ofa: Knitting Before Winter: after three weeks helping her great-aunt move, Ofa shortens her grandpa’s scarf and moves the date.
• Nimbus the Camel and the Pebble Path: a camel leaves a white pebble at every rest stop so he can see his progress and where he drifted off course.

How to use these goal setting reading passages in Grade 3

• Small groups reading from level N up to level P
• A goal-setting unit, with Goal Ladder or Habit Tracker? to compare two ways to track progress
• Reading partners discussing the open-ended prompts
• Homework, with the answer key for quick checking

Grade fit

Levels N to P suit third graders reading independently. The ideas stretch a little further than in the early grades: a concept explainer shows how a dream becomes a goal and then daily habits, and student reporters describe the third grade measuring lunch trash every Friday and posting the results on a bar graph. The questions go past recall to vocabulary, structure and central ideas, so these reading passages with questions build comprehension alongside the goal-setting skills.

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.

Pairs well with

Put the ideas into practice with Goal Setting Task Cards.