Reading Comprehension Worksheets 1st Grade, 30 Short Stories With Questions and Answer Key

A printable book of 30 short stories for children just starting to read alone. Each story has its own page with four multiple choice questions, and each page has an answer key. 65 pages in all.

The stories run from 40 to 60 words, in sentences of at most 11 words. They were written for this set: a lost glove, a stuck zipper, a hole full of rain. There are no pictures, so a child has to use the words.

Each question has three choices and a label: Detail, Order, Why or Main idea. The key has the answer in green with the sentence from the story that proves it.

The contents page links to each story. There is a line for a name at the top of each page.

WHAT'S INCLUDED
- Reading-Comprehension-Grade-1-Letter.pdf, 65 pages
- Reading-Comprehension-Grade-1-A4.pdf, 65 pages
- Start-Here-Reading-Comprehension-Grade-1.pdf, which file to use, print settings

Digital download. Nothing is shipped.

COMPATIBILITY
Print PDF. Page sizes in the files: US Letter 612 x 792 pt and A4 595 x 842 pt. A script confirmed the sizes, that the fonts are embedded and that no ink falls within 0.25 inch of the page edge. Test printing on a real printer has not been recorded for this file.

QUESTIONS AND HOW-TO
How hard are the stories?
A script measured every story on the final file: each has a Flesch-Kincaid grade of 2.5 or under. That formula looks at sentence and word length only. It says nothing about one child, so try page 5 first.

Are there pictures?
No. The stories and questions are all text.

Where are the answers?
After the stories, in the same order. Each key has the page's code and names its page number.

Could a child do this without a grown-up?
Some can. Others will want the first few read aloud. Page 4 of the file explains the pages.

Can I use it with a class?
The license is for personal use, so one family or one child.

Print settings for this PDF
Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat Reader or Preview, not in a browser tab. Browsers can change the scale without telling you.
In the print window, pick the paper size that matches the file name.
In Acrobat Reader, set Page Sizing to Actual Size. In Preview, set Scale to 100%. If the edges get cut off, switch to Fit in Acrobat Reader or Scale to Fit in Preview.
Print one page first and check it before you print the rest.
To print only some pages, type the numbers in the Pages box, for example 3-8.
For double-sided pages, choose flip on long edge for portrait pages.

A4 or US Letter
US Letter is 8.5 x 11 inches (216 x 279 mm). It is the usual paper in the United States and Canada.
A4 is 210 x 297 mm (8.3 x 11.7 inches). It is the usual paper in most other countries.
The paper size is in each file name. Print the one that matches the paper in your printer.
If you only have the other size, use Fit or Scale to Fit in the print window. The page will come out slightly smaller, with wider margins.

HOW AI WAS USED
AI helped write the stories, the questions, the listing text, the how-to text and the code that builds this file. Scripts tested: word counts, sentence lengths, the reading grade formula, that each key points at the choice the writer marked right and quotes a real sentence, and that a key equals its page plus green. A second AI pass answered the questions without seeing the key, and its answers were compared with the key. No person is claimed to have checked it unless stated here.

PLEASE NOTE
Printer and paper are not included. These are practice pages, not lesson plans and not a reading test. They make no promise about results. Digital files cannot be returned once downloaded; if a file does not open or a link is broken, send a message through Etsy. License: for your personal use only. No resale or sharing of this file.