Reading Worksheet · Grades 4–6
George Washington Carver Worksheet
A reading comprehension worksheet about George Washington Carver for grades 4 through 6. Students read about how he was born into slavery and worked his way through school, why he taught Southern farmers to rotate their crops, and why the most famous thing people say about him is not true, then answer multiple choice, true/false, and fill-in-the-blank questions.
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Subject
Reading
Grades
Grades 4–6
Skill Focus
George Washington Carver, reading comprehension
Lesson Length
20 minutes
Learning Objectives
Students will read a biography of George Washington Carver and answer comprehension questions about how he was educated, why he taught Southern farmers to rotate their crops, and why the most famous claim made about him is not true.
- Describe the obstacles Carver overcame to get an education.
- Explain why Southern soil was exhausted and how crop rotation restored it.
- Explain why Carver needed to find new uses for the peanut.
- Correct the common claim that Carver invented peanut butter.
Lesson Overview
About this worksheet
Almost every child who has heard of George Washington Carver has heard that he invented peanut butter. He did not. People in the Americas were grinding peanuts into paste centuries before he was born, and other men had already patented ways of making it before he ever began his own work with peanuts. He never claimed it. This worksheet corrects that, and it does so because the truth is a bigger story than the myth.
The problem Carver actually solved was in the ground. Southern families had planted cotton in the same fields for generations until the soil gave out, and thin crops meant hungry families. He taught them crop rotation: plant peanuts, cowpeas, or sweet potatoes one year to put goodness back, then plant again the year after and watch it grow.
That worked, and it created the problem he is remembered for. Farmers now had wagonloads of peanuts and nobody to buy them. So he went to the laboratory and made the peanut worth something, working out roughly three hundred uses for it and more than a hundred for the sweet potato, then publishing them free in plain language a farmer could actually use, and driving the lessons out to the fields on a rolling classroom.
His own education is worth as much classroom time as the science. There was no school near home that would take a Black child. He walked to the next town, then paid his way from place to place doing laundry and cooking. One college accepted him by letter and turned him away at the door. He became the first Black student at the agricultural college in Iowa, and then its first Black faculty member.
Section A asks students to circle the best answer to four multiple choice questions. Section B asks students to write TRUE or FALSE for six statements. Section C asks students to fill in six missing words. A complete answer key is included on page 3.
How to Use This Lesson
Distribute the worksheet or display it for the class.
Have students read the passage about George Washington Carver.
Students complete Section A (multiple choice), Section B (true/false), and Section C (fill in the blank).
Review answers together using the included answer key.
Printable Resource
A classroom-ready PDF with everything in one printable resource.
Full Member Resource · Printable PDF · 3 pages · Answer Key
George Washington Carver Worksheet
A reading comprehension worksheet about George Washington Carver for grades 4 through 6. Students read about how he was born into slavery and worked his way through school, why he taught Southern farmers to rotate their crops, and why the most famous thing people say about him is not true, then answer multiple choice, true/false, and fill-in-the-blank questions.
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