Reading Worksheet · Grades 3–5
Comparing Fiction and Nonfiction Worksheet
A 3-page worksheet for grades 3-5 that teaches readers to tell fiction from nonfiction by their features – imagined characters and plot versus true facts and text features. Students read two short paired texts about bees (one story, one article), then label 8 features as fiction or nonfiction in Section A (balanced 4 of each), and answer 6 short-response items in Section B comparing the two. Includes a reference and a complete answer key.
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Subject
Reading
Grades
Grades 3–5
Skill Focus
Comparing Fiction and Nonfiction, reading comprehension
Lesson Length
25 minutes
Lesson Overview
About this worksheet
Fiction comes from the author’s imagination – made-up characters, a setting, and a plot – and is meant mostly to entertain. Nonfiction is about real things, gives true facts, often uses text features like diagrams and headings, and is meant mostly to inform. Young readers who can name these features choose the right book for a purpose and read each kind the right way. This worksheet builds that habit by sorting concrete features into the two text types.
The reference box at the top of page 1 defines fiction and nonfiction using a generic dragon-story-versus-lizard-fact-book example. The example does NOT mention bees or any passage content – the reference teaches the SKILL, not the answers. Two short paired texts on the same topic follow: Text 1 is a tiny story about Bella the bee and her friend Pip; Text 2 is a short factual article about how honeybees live in a hive.
Section A on page 1, just below the texts, lists 8 features and asks students to label each fiction or nonfiction. The 4 fiction features (a talking worried bee, a made-up friend and clever plan, a problem to solve, an invented garden setting) come from Text 1; the 4 nonfiction features (the hive can hold tens of thousands of bees, a labeled diagram, true steps for making honey, checkable information) come from Text 2. Because both texts share the topic of bees, students must judge by features, not subject.
Section B on page 2 moves to comparison and application. Students state a difference between the two text types, name a nonfiction text feature in Text 2, judge the author’s purpose in Text 1, explain why one topic can be written two ways, choose which text to read for true facts, and write an opening sentence for a nonfiction text about rain. Page 3 is a complete answer key.
How to Use This Lesson
Read the reference box aloud and contrast the dragon story with the lizard fact-book.
Have students read both short texts and mark anything that feels made-up versus anything that could be checked.
Work Section A item 1 together; ask how they decided FICTION rather than NONFICTION.
Assign the rest of Section A independently or with a partner; require students to point to the text the feature came from.
Use Section B item 12 (why the same topic can be written two ways) as a brief class discussion.
Use the answer key on page 3 for self-check or aide spot-check; the 8 Section A labels are unambiguous, the Section B samples are sample-only.
Printable Resource
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Full Member Resource · Printable PDF · 3 pages · Answer Key
Comparing Fiction and Nonfiction Worksheet
A 3-page worksheet for grades 3-5 that teaches readers to tell fiction from nonfiction by their features – imagined characters and plot versus true facts and text features. Students read two short paired texts about bees (one story, one article), then label 8 features as fiction or nonfiction in Section A (balanced 4 of each), and answer 6 short-response items in Section B comparing the two. Includes a reference and a complete answer key.
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