Self-Care Reading Comprehension Passages — Grade 3

About this resource

Ask third graders what their brain does while they sleep and you’ll hear some creative guesses. These self-care reading comprehension passages for Grade 3 answer that question and nine more, at F&P levels N–P: why rest matters, how an after-school routine heads off a cranky evening, and why a weekend needs some time for doing nothing. Students build Self-Management skills while they practice careful reading.

What students practice

• Understanding why sleep matters for learning
• Building an after-school routine
• Leaving room in a busy week to rest
• Caring for body, mind and heart
• Looking after yourself so you can look after others

What’s inside

• 10 passages at F&P levels N–P, moving from a science passage to a profile of a bus mechanic
• 5 multiple-choice questions per passage, mixing details, inference, vocabulary, text structure and the central message
• 2 written-response prompts per passage that link the reading to students’ own routines
• Answer key for the multiple-choice items on the final page
• 44 pages

A look inside

• The After-School Crash: Ismael comes home hungry, tired and cranky until his family helps him set up a snack, water and outdoor play before homework.
• Jessamy’s Weekend Without a Break: lessons, parties and errands leave Jessamy worn out by Sunday night.
• Holt the Beaver Who Wouldn’t Stop Working: a beaver builds his dam day and night, forgets to rest and play with his family, and grows tired and grumpy.
• Two Bedtimes, Two Mornings: Jengo’s mood, focus and energy after a late night and after his usual bedtime.
• The Bus Mechanic Who Plays in a Steel Band: Mr. Haddad explains how weekend music with friends recharges him for the week.

How to use these self-care reading passages in Grade 3

• Guided reading at levels N–P, using these reading passages with questions
• Health lessons: “How to Pack a Lunch That Keeps You Going” walks through a fruit or vegetable, something filling, a grain and water
• Morning meeting, with “Third Grade Walk-and-Talk Club Grows” as a read-aloud about moving and chatting at recess
• Homework or a quiet center, checked against the answer key

Grade fit

The passages climb from level N to P and change form as they go, so third graders meet ten text structures on one topic. The ideas grow too: “Body, Mind, and Heart: Three Kinds of Self-Care” gives students words for three kinds of care, and the open-ended prompts ask them to look at their own routines. As SEL reading comprehension, the set still gives your reading block real work on inference and vocabulary.

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

For more practice, try Self-Care Task Cards or the choice-based Self-Care Worksheets.