Taxes and Public Services

Help your third graders learn how a community pays for the things everyone shares! In this one-page worksheet, students read a short passage about taxes and public services, circle the three things tax money pays for, then read a simple bar graph to answer two questions.

The passage explains that public services are jobs that help everyone, like fixing roads, running libraries, and putting out fires. It shows that people pay taxes, including sales tax on things they buy, and that the government uses this money to pay police officers, firefighters, and public school teachers, and to build parks and roads. Students also learn that things a family buys for itself are paid with the family's own money. The bar graph, How Our Town Spends Tax Money, adds a math connection: students find which service got the most money and how many more millions of dollars roads got than the library. The graph uses patterned bars, so it reads clearly on any printer. Everything students need to answer is right on the page.

What's inside:

• A short passage with key words in bold
• A circle activity with 6 choices, 3 correct
• A bar graph with 2 questions to circle
• A visual answer key with every answer marked in red

How teachers use it:

• As a quick check after a civics lesson
• For morning work, centers, or an exit ticket
• As homework or sub plans, with no prep needed

It takes about 5 to 10 minutes and prints clearly in black and white. This worksheet is part of our Reading in Civics series for grade 3, covering government, rules and laws, voting, and citizenship. Each sheet in the series uses a different mix of activities, so the set stays fresh from the first page to the last.