Trending Elementary Classrooms 5 Free Texts that Get Elementary Students Excited About Reading
Five free CommonLit texts for third through fifth grade, from dogs with opinions about their owners to a shark with a bad reputation, plus what to teach with each one.
It’s Sunday night, and you’re thinking about how to bring joy into your reading block for your kids. Some texts do half the work for you. A dog explains how hard his human is to train. A shark gets a fair trial. Ice cream turns out to involve atoms.
These five lessons come from CommonLit's free Text Library for third through fifth grade, and they're among the texts teachers reach for most. Each one is just two or three pages long, so they fit into a busy day of learning.
New to CommonLit? These lessons are free with an educator account. Sign up for one here.
"Impossible to Train" by David Hill (3rd Grade)
Three characters swap stories about their hard-to-train pets, who are silly, strange, and sometimes embarrassing. Then the story takes a turn, and students have to rethink who's been talking the whole time. It's funny, it's two pages, and it opens up a real conversation about the relationship between humans and animals.
"The Cold Hard Science Behind Ice Cream" by Tracy Vonder Brink (3rd Grade)
Ice cream has three simple ingredients, but making it takes a special process. Students follow that process step by step, then step back to decide what the whole article is about. It's a strong pick for tracing how details connect and for practicing how to find the main idea.
"Game On!" by Kris Bitar (3rd Grade)
Jo-Jo notices that Dee, a new student, looks lonely. She starts a conversation about Minecraft and invites the whole class to a Minecraft Monday at her house. This text works well at the start of the year for talking about welcoming and including new classmates. It's also good for characterization, since students can compare how Jo-Jo is revealed through her thoughts, dialogue, and actions and how Dee is revealed through what he says and does.
"Lazy Anansi" (4th Grade)
In this Ghanaian folktale, Anansi the spider is too lazy to cook, so he ties his web to his friends' pots and waits for a tug. It does not go well for his legs. Students can spot the moment Anansi chooses the easy way out, then name the lesson he learns. That makes it a clear, memorable text for theme and moral.
"Sharks: Monsters or Misunderstood?" by Marie Droual (5th Grade)
Sharks are complex animals, and the article sorts common myths from facts. There are over 400 types of sharks, and students may be surprised by what the text says about their reputation. It's a great choice for teaching how ideas connect in a text, since the author traces what happens when people believe the myths.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are these texts free?
Yes. Every text in the CommonLit Text Library is free with an educator account—that includes reading questions, assessment questions, answer keys, and paired texts. Go to CommonLit.org, click "Sign Up," choose "I Am an Educator," and confirm your school email.
Can I print these lessons?
Yes. Each text can be downloaded as a PDF or assigned digitally to students.
What grade levels does the CommonLit Text Library cover?
The CommonLit Text Library includes lessons spanning grades 3–12. Once you log in to your free educator account, you can browse the third and fourth grade collection to find more texts like these.
Next Steps
All five texts are ready to assign. Create a free CommonLit account to unlock reading questions, assessment questions, answer keys, and paired texts for every lesson.
