Read Works
Read Works: Passages: Letter From Jackie Robinson on Civil Rights
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read a Civil Rights letter from Jackie Robinson and answer questions about comprehension, persuasive text, supporting details, inferences, main idea, and more. Links to a paired text and paired...
Read Works
Read Works: Passages: The Unknown Hall of Famer
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read a nonfiction text about baseball Hall of Famer George "Lolin" Osorio and answer questions about comprehension, supporting details, inferences, main idea, transitions, and more. Links to a...
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Read Works: Passages: The Noisiest Cat
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read a fiction text about a girl and her pet cat and answer questions about comprehension, conflict, supporting details, main idea, and more. Links to a paired text and paired text questions...
Read Works
Read Works: Passages: Forgetting the Words
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read a fiction text about a boy named Andy who has a part in the school play and answer questions about comprehension, conflict, inferencing, main idea, literary devices, and more. Links to a...
Read Works
Read Works: Passages: Lessons From Fishing
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read a fiction text about a boy named Morgan who loved to fish and answer questions about comprehension, comparing details, supporting details, main idea, vocabulary, and more. Links to a...
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Read Works: Passages: Sarah the Seagull
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read a fiction text about a seagull named Sarah who lived with her mom in New York and answer questions about comprehension, setting, main idea, vocabulary, and more. Links to a paired text and...
Read Works
Read Works: Passages: How to Trick Your Sister
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read a literary text about a brother who ends up on the wrong side of a trick with his sister and answer questions on comprehension, resolution, text evidence, main idea, and more. Links to a...
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Read Works: Passages: Brothers
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read a literary text about the relationship between brothers Joseph and Philip and answer questions on comprehension, main idea, text evidence, and more. Links to a paired text and paired text...
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Read Works: Passages: Learning to Skateboard
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read a literary text about the relationship between a brother and a sister and answer questions on comprehension, main idea, text evidence, and more. Links to a paired text and paired text...
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Read Works: Passages: Vanquishing the Gooples
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read a story about a girl named Melissa and her adventure at a Renaissance Faire and answer questions in comprehension, setting, characterization, main idea, inference, transitions, and more. A...
Read Works
Read Works: Passages: The Other Side of the Magic Shop
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read a story about a girl named Bella who worked at a magic shop and answer questions in comprehension, setting, characterization, main idea, inference, transitions, and more. A link to a...
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Read Works: Passages: A Winter's Drive
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read a literary text about a young man who returns to his childhood home and answer questions on comprehension, text evidence, main idea, vocabulary, and more. Links to a paired text and paired...
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Read Works: Passages: The Film Editor
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read a nonfiction text about the job of a film editor and answer questions about comprehension, supporting details, inferencing, main idea, and more. Links to a paired text and paired text...
Read Works
Read Works: Passages: The Process of Acting
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read a nonfiction text about what it takes to be an actor and answer questions about comprehension, main idea, supporting details, vocabulary, transitions, and more. Links to a paired text and...
Read Works
Read Works: Passages: Abraham
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read a literary text about an elephant who escaped captivity to go back into the wild and answer questions on comprehension, dynamic characterization, textual evidence, main idea, and more....
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Read Works: Passages: The Chicken Pen
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read a literary text about a little boy who I learning to live on a farm and answer questions on comprehension, narration, main idea, vocabulary, and more. Links to a paired text and paired...
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Read Works: Passages: An Elephant's Excellent Trunk
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read an informational text about elephants and answers questions about reading comprehension, supporting details, main idea, and more. Links to a paired text and paired text questions are...
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Read Works: Passages: Grade 2: When Television Became Colorful
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read a non-fiction article about colored television and answer questions in comprehension, sequencing, inferences, main idea, transitions, and more.
Read Works
Read Works: Passages: Grade 2: A Brush With History
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read a non-fiction article about the history of a toothbrush and answer questions in comprehension, sequencing, inferences, main idea, transitions, and more. A link to paired text questions is...
Read Works
Read Works: Passages: Robert Kennedy on Civil Rights, 1963 [Abridged]
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read letter from Attorney General Robert Kennedy to President John F. Kennedy concerning civil rights and answer questions about comprehension, author's viewpoint, main idea, vocabulary, and...
Curated OER
Mc Graw Hill: Informational Text: Determine Central Ideas and Supporting Details
Read a short informational text and determine the main idea and supporting details. Click to check your answers then click on Practice.
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: John's Bright Idea [Pdf]
"John's Bright Idea" is a one page, fictional, reading passage about a mother and children who help a poor boy to support his family. It is followed by constructed-response questions which require students to provide evidence from the...
Quia
Quia: 3rd Grade Main Idea
This short interactive activity assesses students' ability to identify main idea. Students will read three short passages and identify the main idea of each.
ProProfs
Pro Profs: Main Idea Benchmark
This is a four-question multiple choice quiz over the main idea; students read nonfiction passages and select the main idea. Links to related quizzes on the same topic are provided.