3rd Grade Literature Central Message worksheets

Literature Central Message

Grade 3 Reading Worksheet

Circle the answer.

1. Read this first

   Abuela's Bundle of Sticks

   Lucía, Mateo, and Paz lived with their grandmother in a village high in the mountains of Peru. The three children loved each other, but they argued all the time. They argued about chores. They argued about who got the window seat. They even argued about whose turn it was to feed the llamas.

   One evening, Abuela came in carrying a bundle of thin sticks tied with string. She handed it to Mateo, the oldest. "Break this bundle in half," she said.

   Mateo pushed it against his knee with all his strength. The sticks bent a little, but they did not break. Lucía tried next, and then Paz. None of them could do it.

   Then Abuela untied the string. She gave each child one stick. "Now try," she said. Snap! Snap! Snap! Each stick broke easily.

   "When you stand alone, you are like one stick," Abuela said. "Anyone can break you. When you stand together, you are like the bundle. Nothing can break you."

   The children looked at each other. They thought about all their silly fights.

   The next week, a storm knocked down the fence around the llama pen. The three children did not argue about who should fix it. Mateo held the posts. Lucía tied the wire. Paz carried the tools. The fence was fixed before dark, and Abuela smiled from the doorway.

2. 1.

   What is the central message of this story?

   • Thin sticks are easy to break one at a time.
   • Older children should do the hardest chores.
   • Grandmothers always know how to fix fences.
   • People are stronger when they work together.
3. 2.

   Why did Abuela ask the children to break the bundle?

   • to find out who was strongest
   • to teach them about sticking together
   • to fix the fence around the llama pen
   • to make wood for the fire
4. 3.

   Which detail shows that the children learned the lesson?

   • Mateo pushed the bundle against his knee.
   • Each child broke one stick easily.
   • They fixed the fence without arguing.
   • They argued about the window seat.
5. 4.

   In Abuela's lesson, what is the bundle of sticks like?

   • the storm that knocked down the fence
   • the fence around the llama pen
   • the children when they stand together
   • the children when they argue
6. 5.

   How do the children change from the beginning to the end?

   • They go from loving Abuela to being upset with her.
   • They go from helping each other to arguing.
   • They go from arguing to helping each other.
   • They go from caring for llamas to forgetting them.
7. 6.

   What happened when each child tried to break the whole bundle?

   • The sticks broke into many small pieces.
   • The sticks bent but did not break.
   • The string snapped and the sticks fell.
   • Only Mateo was strong enough to break it.
8. 7.

   Mateo pushed with all his strength. What does strength mean?

   • a feeling of worry
   • power to push or lift
   • a kind of thin wood
   • the length of a stick
9. 8.

   What would most likely have happened if the children argued after the storm?

   • The llamas would have stayed safe without a fence.
   • The fence would have taken longer to fix.
   • The fence would have been fixed even faster.
   • Abuela would have given them more sticks.
10. 9.

    Which detail is true but too small to be the central message?

    • Working as a team makes a family strong.
    • Arguing makes people weak, like single sticks.
    • The bundle was tied with string.
    • Helping each other gets hard jobs done.
11. 10.

    Which job did Lucía do to fix the fence?

    • She called Abuela outside.
    • She tied the wire.
    • She carried the tools.
    • She held the posts.