Grade 5 Reading Comprehension Worksheet

Read the short story. Then answer each question.

Henry Ford
Henry Ford is famous for making cars easier for most people to buy. He
did this by producing the cars using an assembly line.

Henry Ford was bor n in 1863 in Michigan. He had 4 siblings, and his family
owned a farm. He worked on the farm when he was young, but he soon
discovered that he loved taking things apart to see how they worked,
then putting them back together agai n. He worked on watches a l ot, and
ended up helping many people fix their watches. I n 1879, when he was 16
years old, he moved to Detroi t to start working with machines, though he
did come home and work on the farm a little, too.

Ford got married to Clara Bryant in 1888, and worked on a sawmill. He

eventually became an engineer. Ford worked for the Edison I lluminating
Company and even got t o meet Thomas Edison! Edison encouraged him
to keep working on his plans for his horseless carriage, powered by a
motor. Ford’s gasol ine -powered horseless carriage was c alled the
Quadricycle.

He sold the Quadri cycle and started his own company to continue his
work making vehicles. He did not stay with the first company for very
many years , but eventually started the Ford Motor Company. He spent
many years developing cars, which were made only a few at a time.

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Grade 5 Reading Comprehension Worksheet

Ford was not the fir st person to create a car, but he was the one who
began to make them accessible to a lot of people in the United States .
His “Model T” car, r eleased in 1908, was easy to drive and to repair, which
made many people want one. He needed to make a lot of cars very
quickly. His company, Ford Motor Company, hired skilled workers to work
on an assembly line. The car would move through the line, and each
worker had a j ob al ong the line. One worker might put on the steering
wheel, while at a diff erent spot on the line, another worker put on tires.
Every Model T was painted black. The company could make many cars at
a time this way, which made them cheaper to produce.

In addition to using the assembly line to produce cars, Ford was also
known for paying his workers fair wages. Henry F ord died in 1947, but his
company is still around and making c ars today.

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Grade 5 Reading Comprehension Worksheet

Questions:

1. Create a timeline of events in Henry Ford’s life.

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2. What adjective would you use to desc ribe Henry Ford? Why?

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3. What does “accessi ble” mean in the 5th paragraph? How do you
know?

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4. Why do you think making cars on an assembly line is cheaper than

having groups of 3 or 4 people putting together one whol e car at a
time?

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5. If each paragraph had a heading, the heading for the 2nd

paragraph could b e “Ford’s Early Life.” Create a head ing for the 5th
paragraph.

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

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Grade 5 Reading Comprehension Worksheet

Answers:

1. C r e a t e a t i me l i n e o f e ve n t s i n H e n r y F o r d ’ s l i f e .

- I n 1 8 63 , H e n r y F o r d w a s b o r n .

- I n 1 8 79 h e m o ve d t o D e t r o i t t o s t a r t w o r k i n g w i th m a c h i n e .

- I n 1 8 88 H e n r y F o r d m a r r i e d C l a r a B r y a n t .

- H e w o r k e d a t a s a w m i l l a n d b e c a me a n e n g i n e e r .

- F o r d m o ve d o n t o w o r k a t t h e E d i s o n I l l u mi n a ti n g C o m p a n y .

- E d i s o n e n c o u r a g e F o r d t o k e e p w o r k i n g o n h i s h o r s e l e s s c a r r i a ge , p o w e r e d b y

a motor.

- F o r d s o l d t h e f i r s t ve r s i o n o f h i s h o r s e l e s s c a r r i a ge a n d s t a r te d h i s o w n

c o mp a n y .

- H e e ve n t u a l l y s t a r t e d t h e F o r d M o t o r C o m p a n y .

- I n 1 9 08 t h e M o d e l T c a r w a s r e l e a s e d f o r s a l e to th e p u b l i c .

- I n 1 9 47 F o r d p a s s e d a w a y .

2. Wh a t a d j e c t i ve w o u l d y o u u s e t o d e s c r i b e H e n r y F o r d ? Wh y ?

An s w e r s w i l l v a r y , b u t c a n i n c l u d e i n ve n ti ve , i n d u s tr i o u s , h a r d - w o r k i n g ,

entrepreneurial.

3. Wh a t d o e s “ a c c e s s i b l e ” me a n i n th e 5 t h p a r a gr a p h ? H o w d o y o u k n o w ?

Ac c e s s i b l e m e a n s a b l e t o b e e a s i l y o b t a i n e d o r u s e d . F o r d w a s th e o n e w h o

started making cars in a more affordable so more people could buy a car.

4. Wh y d o y o u t h i n k m a k i n g c a r s o n a n a s s e m b l y l i n e i s c h e a p e r th a n h a vi n g
gr o u p s o f 3 o r 4 p e o p l e p u t t i n g t o g e th e r o n e w h o l e c a r a t a ti me ?

I t h i n k i t ’ s c h e a p e r t o m a k e c a r s o n a n a s s e m b l y l i n e th a t i n gr o u p s o f p e o p l e ,

b e c a u s e i t ’ s f a s t e r . E a c h w o r k e r c o n c e n tr a t e s o n th e i r s m a l l p a r t , s o th e y a r e

b e t t e r a n d f a s t e r a t t h a t p a r ti c u l a r p a r t o f th e c a r .

5. I f e a c h p a r a gr a p h h a d a h e a d i n g , th e h e a d i n g f o r th e 2 n d p a r a gr a p h c o u l d b e

“ F o r d ’ s E a r l y L i f e . ” C r e a t e a h e a d i n g f o r th e 5 th p a r a gr a p h .

An s w e r s w i l l v a r y , b u t a p p r o p r i a te a n s w e r s c o u l d b e : A c a r f o r th e Pe o p l e o r
Ford Motor Company.

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