Reading Worksheet · Grades 3–5
Problem and Solution Worksheet
A free printable reading worksheet for grades 3-5 on problem and solution: the trouble a character faces and the way it is worked out. Students label eight short situations as a problem or a solution, then answer four questions. A complete answer key is included.
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Subject
Reading
Grades
Grades 3–5
Skill Focus
Problem and Solution, reading comprehension
Lesson Length
15 minutes
Lesson Overview
About this worksheet
Many stories and texts are built around a problem and a solution. A problem is something that goes wrong or that a character needs to fix, and a solution is the way that problem is worked out. Spotting both helps young readers understand what a story is really about. This worksheet gives students focused practice telling the two apart.
Section A gives eight short situations (The campers had no clean water to drink; They built a fire and boiled the river water) and asks students to write whether each is a problem or a solution. The reference box teaches the idea with a dog stuck in a fence and the girl who frees it, an example not reused in the items.
Section B asks students to define a problem and a solution in their own words, recall the problem and solution from a story they know, and explain why so many stories include both. Page 3 is a complete answer key. The skill builds toward story structure and summarizing.
How to Use This Lesson
Read the reference box aloud and ask ‘what is the trouble, and what is done about it?’
Complete Section A independently – have students decide whether each sentence shows the trouble or the fix.
Work Section B item 11 together: name the problem and solution from a familiar story.
Use the answer key on page 3 for self-check or teacher review.
Pair with the Sequencing Events Worksheet or the Story Elements Worksheet for a story-structure mini-unit.
Printable Resource
A classroom-ready PDF with everything in one printable resource.
Free Member Resource · Printable PDF · 3 pages · Answer Key
Problem and Solution Worksheet
A free printable reading worksheet for grades 3-5 on problem and solution: the trouble a character faces and the way it is worked out. Students label eight short situations as a problem or a solution, then answer four questions. A complete answer key is included.
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