Additional Info:
Difficulty Level: Medium to Difficult
Grade Level: 5
CEFR Level: B1-B2
Topic: Making Inferences & Understanding Theme
Standard:
CCSS.RL.5.1 – Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences.
CCSS.RL.5.2 – Determine a theme of a story and summarize it.
CEFR: B1 – Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc.
This seven-page worksheet, “Grade 5 Reading Comprehension: The Whispering Tree,” is a medium-to-difficult literacy resource for CEFR B1–B2 learners. Through a fictional story about a boy named Ben and a symbolic “magical” tree, it develops key reading skills such as inference, theme analysis, vocabulary in context, and citing textual evidence.
Content Overview
The Passage: A short story about Ben, who finds encouragement from a tree after losing his homework and later grows up to become a teacher.
Activity 1 – Inferences: Questions on Ben’s motivations and the tree’s symbolic meaning.
Activity 2 – Theme: Identifying the central message (“Courage comes from within”) and analyzing character growth.
Activity 3 – Vocabulary: Using context clues to define key words and phrases.
Activity 4 – Citing Evidence: Supporting answers with direct quotes from the text.
Answer Key: Complete solutions for all activities, suitable for classroom or independent use.

