Close Reading Comprehension Passages and Questions for Primary + Audio Support!

These close reading comprehension passages are the perfect no-prep, standards-based, and high-interest way to strengthen your primary students' close reading skills! Each passage includes 3 differentiated reading levels for 1st, 2nd, & 3rd grade reading levels.

This resource includes 60 (x3 for 3 reading levels) passages professionally written by a published children's author with more than 100 books in print!

WHAT’S INCLUDED:

✍️ PRINT:

• 60 printable passages with comprehension questions (Each with 3 levels! 180 passages total.)
  • With & without audio support! (Through QR Codes)
• Teacher Answer Keys
• 3 graphic organizers to use with the 6 included paired passages

DIGITAL:

• Google Slides Activities
  • With & without audio support
  • Full set or leveled sets
• Google Sheets Passage Tracker & Skill Finder

DIFFERENTIATION OPTIONS:

• Digital or Print
• Audio Support
• 3 reading levels for each passage!
• Digital Passage Tracker and Skill Finder

Great for 1st, 2nd, or 3rd grade! 

CHECK OUT THE PREVIEW TO SEE A LOT MORE!

This resource is part of a money-saving bundle!

NOTE: This resource uses American English and is not editable. 

If you need higher-level comprehension passages, click here!

About the Passages

There are 60 passages, each presented at three reading levels (1st, 2nd, & 3rd grade) for a total of 180 passages. The passages are a mix of high-interest and curriculum-based topics and include informational text & literature. The included text-dependent questions address a variety of close reading skills.

Text-Dependent Questions

The Show What You Know text-dependent questions are identical for both reading levels. This allows you to discuss the passages altogether, even if you have students using different reading levels. Note that some questions may be challenging for younger students, especially near the start of the year.

Audio Support

Audio support is included through links or QR codes. These are recordings created with the most advanced AI text-to-talk technology on the market for a natural human-like sound. You can click here for an example of what the audio sounds like.

Use in 2 Ways

As Printable Pages:

Teacher instructions, student pages, and answer keys are all included in the PDF. There are two versions of printable pages: with and without QR codes.

As Google Slides:

Links to the digital versions are included in your download. Click the links for your own copy of the resources. 2 Google Slide files are included: with and without audio support.

More about the reading passages:

The passages are sequenced in cycles of three as follows:

• IT: Informational Text (nonfiction) with an illustration such as a map, diagram, or photo,
• IT: Longer Informational Text (nonfiction)
• L: Literature (fiction)

Breakdown by type: 2/3 Informational Text, 1/3 Literature.

Within the 60 passages, there are six sets of paired passages. The paired passages appear adjacent to each other and address a similar topic for comparing and contrasting. Three additional printables are included to use with these paired passages. These passages will also work as stand-alone activities if you do not want to use them together.

The skills addressed in each passage are written in small print at the bottom on the left-hand side. The skills address most of the RI and RL Common Core Standards and include: reading for key details, vocabulary/context clues, main idea, sequence of events, making inferences and predictions, character, plot, setting, moral/lesson, retelling, genre, and interpreting an illustration (map, chart, diagram, table, or photo), analysis, and evaluation. They are also listed in the Table of Contents for easy reference.

Full-page answer keys are provided. Because the questions are the same for all three reading levels, I have used the middle version for the answer keys. When checking the text highlighting, note that it will vary a bit for the easier and the harder versions. Answers will also vary somewhat for short answer questions.

If you would like consistent practice all year long, use two Text Time pages per week, perhaps on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Another option is to use them three times a week, possibly Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, which will get you through most of the school year. A third possibility is to go ala carte, selecting passages for their subjects or the skills addressed, as needed.

These passages could be used for morning work, at a center or station, as part of a reading packet, with a small group, as homework, as enrichment for younger, highly capable students, as remediation for struggling students, or as test prep. For interactive notebooks, just cut the two sections apart.

Parents and Caregivers:

This resource will work best if your child is already familiar with the reading skills in this product (you can see them in the table of contents). This product is meant to reinforce those concepts, not to teach them. If you feel your student would benefit by being able to reference specific reading skills, you might also consider these reading posters/charts.

Topics Included:

1 Capybaras

2 The Tallest Trees

3 Luna and the Leaves

4 Your Sense of Taste

5 What Does a Mayor Do?

6 Shia and the Unicorn

7 The Water Cycle

8 The California Gold Rush (paired)

9 Panning for Gold (paired)

10 What is Erosion?

11 Vampire Bats

12 Planting Pumpkins

13 Castle Battlements

14 A "Waterfall" of Lava

15 At the Store

16 The Sahara Desert

17 What is an Immigrant?

18 Rima's Story

19 Tiny, Mighty Ants

20 What is Hibernation?

21 A Snowman for Sasha

22 Your Lungs (paired)

23 What is Asthma? (paired)

24 The Seal and the Seagull

25 Sea Stars

26 In a Deep, Dark Cave

27 Sledding with Caleb

28 What is Braille? (paired)

29 Louis Braille (paired)

30 At Grandma's House

31 In a Tropical Rain Forest

32 What Does a Pediatrician Do?

33 The Rest of the Story

34 Time for a New Toothbrush

35 Snow Leopards

36 New Home, New Friends

37 Why the Wind Blows (paired)

38 Hurricanes (paired)

39 Three Best Friends

40 What is a Family Tree?

41 Make a Magic Balancing Box

42 Keenan's Kite

43 International Symbols

44 Terrific Tree Frogs!

45 Big, Scary Spider

46 The Moon

47 What is a Coral Reef (paired)

48 An Angelfish Essay (paired)

49 Seeds

50 Why Rabbits Have Long Ears

51 Pitching Practice

52 What are Petroglyphs?

53 What does a Pediatrician Do?

54 Deer Morning

55 Hummingbirds in Flight

56 Hummingbirds

57 Abby's Ice Cream

58 National Parks

59 Ice Cream at the World's Fair

60 Dear Goldilocks...

Also included: Instructions for use, full page answer keys, and three printables to use with the 6 included paired passages.

The image on every third passage is in color, so it will look great when displayed for the whole class. However, the sheets will still print out fine in grayscale for individual student use.

Here’s what teachers are saying:

✏️ “I taught 2nd grade for 10 years and this resource was an integral part of my instruction.  I have moved to 4th grade and needed an intervention resource for one of my students and THIS is perfect!  I love resources that stand the test of time - and this is one of them.” - Christina J.

✏️ “My students loved using this resource during our reading time. It has really helped them to go back to the story for evidence. They are finding that they need to go back and not just read and forget about what it says. It greatly increased their understanding of the need to reread and "look back in the story if you don't remember (I say this to them all. the. time. I think they're finally getting it.).” - Christen A.

✏️ “These passages and questions were awesome! I love the 3 levels of text - perfect for differentiation for my students. I sent them the passages digitally and they printed them out at home. Love the stories and this resource covered so many standards and concepts. Thank you!” - Wendi S.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LOVE…

• Reading Posters Bundle
• Passage of the Day Set 1
• Close Reading Toolkit - Informational Set
• Close Reading Toolkit - Literature Set

____________________________________

Be the first to know about discounts, freebies, and new resources!

• Follow us on TpT.
• Join our Teachers Club.
• Check out our Blog  www.Minds-in-Bloom.com
• Follow us on Social Media - Facebook or Instagram

Get TPT credit to use on future purchases:

• Go to your My Purchases page.
• Click on the Provide Feedback button to leave a rating and a short comment. 
• You’ll earn TPT credits, which you can redeem on future purchases!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ WE STRIVE FOR 5 STARS! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

NEED HELP? Before leaving feedback:

• Visit the FAQs section
• submit a help ticket
• ask a question on the Q& A tab

About the Author

Rachel Lynette is a published author of over 120 nonfiction books for children on a variety of subjects, as well as several teacher resource books. She has written for publishers such as Harcourt, Thompson-Gale, Rosen, Children’s Press, Evan-Moor, Kagan, and several others. This resource reflects more than a decade of professional writing experience.

Terms of Use

This resource was created by Rachel Lynette and Cassi Noack for Minds in Bloom INC., all rights reserved. It may be used by the original purchaser for single-class use only. Teachers may distribute this product by email, through Google Classroom, or over the Internet to their students (and parents) as long as the site is password-protected. In other words, you may distribute it to your own students but may not put it on the Internet, where it could be publicly found and downloaded. 

If you want to share this resource with colleagues, please purchase additional licenses from TpT. Thank you for respecting these terms of use.

This product is happily brought to you by Rachel Lynette and Cassi Noack of Minds in Bloom.

SKU: 3316517