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 a n assembly line.
Henry Ford was bor n in 1863 in Michigan. He ha d 4 siblings, a nd 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 toge ther agai n. He worked on watches a l ot, a nd
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, thoug h he
did come home and work on the far m a little, too.
Ford got married to Clara Bryant in 1888, and wor ked 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 star ted his own company to continue his
work making vehicles. He did not s tay with the first comp any for very
many years , bu t eventually star ted the Ford Motor Comp any. He spent
many years developing cars, which were made only a fe w a t a time .
Reading and Math for K-5 © www.k5learning.com
Grade 5 Reading Comprehension Worksheet
Ford was not the fir st person to create a car , bu t he was the one who
began to make the m acce ssible to a lot of people in the United S tates .
His “Model T” car, r eleased in 1908, was easy to drive and to repair, which
made ma ny people want one . He ne eded to make a lot of cars very
quickly. His compa ny, Ford Motor C ompany, hired skilled workers to work
on a n assembly line. The car would move through the line, a nd each
worker had a j ob al ong the line. One worker might put on the s teering
wheel, while a t a diff erent spot on the line, another wor ker put on tires.
Every Model T was painted black. The company could make many cars at
a time this wa y, which made them cheaper to produce.
I n addition to using the assembly line to produce cars, Ford was also
known for paying his workers fair wages. Henr y F ord died in 1947, bu t his
company is still around and making c ars toda y.
Reading and Math for K-5 © www.k5learning.com
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? H ow 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 toge ther one whol e car at a
time?
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5. I f 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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Reading and Math for K-5 © www.k5learning.com
