★Visual Information
Grade 3 Reading Worksheet - Challenge Me
Circle the answer.
Read this first
The Mill Creek Bridge
Mill Creek runs right through the middle of the town of Fairview. For many years, the creek split the town in two. Farmers lived on the east side, and the shops were on the west side. To cross, people paid a few cents to ride a small ferry boat. When the water was high, the ferry could not run at all.
In 1902, the town built its first bridge across the creek. It was made of wood and was just wide enough for one wagon. Horses clopped across the boards, and children liked to drop sticks into the water below.
More than twenty years later, a new problem appeared. More and more families were buying cars. Cars were heavier than wagons, and the old boards began to crack. The town added strong beams under the bridge so cars could cross safely. Still, only one car could cross at a time, and lines grew long.
By the middle of the century, Fairview had grown much bigger. The wooden bridge was replaced with a wide steel bridge. It had two lanes, so cars could travel in both directions at once. People cheered at the opening, and the school band played.
Later, the town noticed that people on foot had no safe place on the bridge. Workers added a sidewalk on each side. Now people could walk to the shops without stepping into traffic.
The most recent change came in 2005. The town painted bike lanes on the bridge and added bright lights. Today, the bridge is busy from morning until night.
Some older people in Fairview still remember the clatter of cars on the old wooden boards. They like to tell their grandchildren about the long lines of cars. In about one hundred years, a simple wooden bridge became the heart of the town.
The text says a steel bridge opened by the middle of the century. In what year does the timeline show it opened?
- 1925
- 1978
- 1902
- 1950
In what year were sidewalks added to the bridge?
Use the picture in question 1.
- 1950
- 1925
- 1978
- 2005
How many years passed between the wooden bridge and the steel bridge?
Use the picture in question 1.
- 50 years
- 23 years
- 25 years
- 48 years
What does the timeline show that the text does NOT tell?
Use the picture in question 1.
- why the sidewalks were needed
- why cars cracked the old boards
- how people crossed before 1902
- the year sidewalks were added
Cars cracked the old boards. What did the town do first to solve this problem?
Use the picture in question 1.
- Sidewalks added
- Beams added for cars
- Bike lanes and lights
- Steel bridge opens
Using both the text and the timeline, which of these happened first?
Use the picture in question 1.
- Workers added strong beams.
- People rode a ferry across the creek.
- The town built a wooden bridge.
- The school band played at an opening.
How do the text and the timeline work together?
Use the picture in question 1.
- The text tells a made-up story; only the timeline is true.
- Both give exactly the same years and no other information.
- The text explains why each change happened; the timeline shows when.
- The timeline explains why; the text gives the year of every change.
Which two changes on the timeline happened closest together in time?
Use the picture in question 1.
- the sidewalks and the bike lanes
- the beams for cars and the steel bridge
- the wooden bridge and the beams for cars
- the steel bridge and the sidewalks
Why was the steel bridge built with two lanes?
- so the ferry could pass under it
- so cars could travel both ways at once
- so children could drop sticks below
- so horses had a lane of their own
Why could the ferry not always run?
- The bridge blocked the ferry's path.
- The creek water was sometimes too high.
- Farmers used the boat for crops.
- The ferry was too small for cars.
