Free Reading Comprehension Lessons and Assessments
Page updated April 2026. Many older links on this page were broken. Sections below have been revised with current working resources. Struck-through items are confirmed or likely dead links. New replacements are marked updated.
Free Reading Lessons and Assessments
The original teacher handbooks and assessment PDFs were hosted on a personal site that is no longer active. The best current replacements are listed below.
- Reading Assessments Overview — Reading Rockets updated
- Florida Center for Reading Research — Teacher Resources updated
- Making the Most of Read Alouds — Reading Rockets updated
- Literature Circles Resources — International Literacy Association updated
- ReadWorks.org — Free reading comprehension passages and lessons, K–12 updated
- CommonLit.org — Free reading comprehension, grades 3–12 updated
- Adult Literacy Resources — LINCS (U.S. Dept. of Education) updated
Fluency Drills — Classic Literature Passages
The original Eclectic Speller PDF samples may still be findable via archive.org. The classic texts themselves are freely available at Project Gutenberg:
- The Story of Doctor Dolittle
- Treasure Island
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
- The Wind in the Willows
- The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Fluency Drills by Grade Level
The original grade-level PDFs are no longer available at their old location. These are current replacements:
- FCRR Fluency Passages — Grades 1–5, free PDFs updated
- AIMSweb Reading Fluency Probes — Grades K–8 updated
- DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency — University of Oregon, free benchmark passages updated
- Repeated Reading / Fluency Strategies — Reading Rockets updated
Graphic Organizers
Many original graphic organizer PDFs are no longer available. These sites host large, free, printable collections:
- TeacherVision Graphic Organizers — large free collection updated
- ReadWriteThink Printouts — ILA/NCTE, includes all major types updated
- Ohio DOE Graphic Organizers — free PDFs by type updated
Types still widely available as free printable PDFs:
- Cause and Effect
- Compare/Contrast
- Concept Definition Map
- Drawing Conclusions
- Author's Purpose
- Main Idea and Supporting Details
- Making Inferences
- Summarizing
- KWL Chart
- KWS Chart
- Venn Diagram
- Story Map (1, 2, 3)
- T-Chart
- Flow Chart
- Sequence Chart
- Time Line
- Five W's Chart
- Problem-Solution Chart
- Spider Map
- Fact and Opinion
- Persuasion Map
- Four-Column Chart
Vocabulary Games
The original Alien Vocabulary Game Board and custom card sets were hosted on a personal site and are no longer available. Free vocabulary game alternatives:
- Quizlet.com — free flashcard and game sets for all grade levels updated
- VocabularySpellingCity.com — free tier, grades K–12 updated
- FreeRice.com — vocabulary game, free updated
- Vocabulary Game Strategies — Reading Rockets updated
- TpT Free Vocabulary Games — filter by "free" updated
Academic / Tier 2 & Tier 3 Vocabulary Word Lists
IES Practice Guides (Federal Government Resources)
These guides moved when the IES site was reorganized. Use the links below to find current versions.
| Guide | Direct Link |
|---|---|
| Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade | ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/PracticeGuide/14 |
| Assisting Students Struggling with Reading: RtI, Primary Grades | ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/PracticeGuide/3 |
| Improving Adolescent Literacy | ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/PracticeGuide/8 |
| Developing Effective Fractions Instruction K–8 | ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/PracticeGuide/15 |
| Assisting Students Struggling with Mathematics: RtI | ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/PracticeGuide/2 |
| Effective Literacy for English Learners, Elementary | ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/PracticeGuide/6 |
| Using Student Achievement Data | ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/PracticeGuide/12 |
| Dropout Prevention | ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/PracticeGuide/1 |
| Encouraging Girls in Math and Science | ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/PracticeGuide/5 |
| All IES Practice Guides (browse all) | ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/PracticeGuides |
Children's Bookshelf — Free Ebooks (Project Gutenberg)
Project Gutenberg links are generally stable. Browse by category:
- Children's Literature Bookshelf
- Children's Fiction Bookshelf
- Children's Verse Bookshelf
- Children's Myths, Fairy Tales, etc.
- Children's Picture Books
- School Stories Bookshelf
Selected Authors — Direct Links
- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
- Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz
- The Marvelous Land of Oz
- Ozma of Oz
- The Emerald City of Oz
- The Blue Fairy Book
- The Red Fairy Book
- The Green Fairy Book
- The Yellow Fairy Book
- The Pink Fairy Book
- The Grey Fairy Book
- The Violet Fairy Book
- The Crimson Fairy Book
- The Brown Fairy Book
- The Orange Fairy Book
- The Lilac Fairy Book
Page updated April 2026. Project Gutenberg links verified. IES Practice Guide links updated to current WWC URLs. Original teacher-created PDF resources (graphic organizers, fluency drills, vocabulary games) replaced with equivalent current free resources.
