River Choices

This worksheet is designed for students in Grades 4 and 5 to strengthen close reading, inferential thinking, and historical understanding through a short narrative inspired by Lewis and Clark’s expedition. As learners read about a challenging river crossing, they analyze environmental obstacles, leadership decisions, and teamwork, using text evidence to support their conclusions.

Learning Goals

• Reading Comprehension & Inference (Grades 4-5) – Draw conclusions about character decisions and outcomes using clues from the text.
• Text-Based Evidence – Cite specific details to justify answers and interpretations.
• Historical Decision-Making – Understand how explorers weighed safety, resources, and cooperation during expeditions.
• Critical Thinking – Analyze cause-and-effect relationships within a historical narrative.

Instructional Benefits

• Teacher-Created Resource – Designed by educators to align with upper-elementary ELA and social studies standards.
• Integrated Literacy & History – Connects reading skills with real historical challenges faced during exploration.
• Inferential Questioning – Goes beyond recall to promote reasoning and deeper comprehension.
• Supports Discussion & Writing – Questions encourage explanation, justification, and collaborative talk.
• Flexible Use – Ideal for social studies units, guided reading, literacy centers, or independent practice.
• Low-Prep Design – Easy to print and implement in classroom or homeschool settings.

This printable worksheet helps students practice close reading while exploring how historical figures made difficult choices in uncertain environments. By analyzing leadership, teamwork, and safety through text-based evidence, learners strengthen comprehension skills and gain insight into real-world problem-solving during early American exploration.

This worksheet is part of our Lewis and Clark Expedition collection.