Ziggy's Rainbow Stripes
Ziggy's Rainbow Stripes
Ziggy was a zebra. He lived in Africa. All zebras have black and white stripes. But Ziggy wanted something different!
One sunny day, Ziggy had an idea. “I want rainbow stripes!” he said. He found some berries. Red, yellow, and blue berries. He mashed them up. He used the berry juice to paint his stripes. Now, Ziggy had rainbow stripes!
Ziggy walked to the watering hole. The other animals laughed. “Look at Ziggy!” they giggled. “He looks funny!” Ziggy felt sad. He hid behind a tree.
A wise old elephant saw Ziggy. She walked over to him. “Why are you hiding?” she asked. Ziggy showed her his rainbow stripes. “The other animals are laughing at me,” he said.
The elephant smiled. “Ziggy,” she said, “your stripes are beautiful! Being different is wonderful. It makes you special.”
Ziggy felt better. He walked back to the watering hole. He held his head high. The other animals stopped laughing. They looked at Ziggy’s stripes. They saw how bright and colorful they were.
“Wow, Ziggy,” said a giraffe. “Your stripes are amazing!”
“Can you paint our stripes too?” asked a lion.
Ziggy smiled. He painted all the animals with rainbow colors. Now, all the animals were different and special. Ziggy taught them that it’s good to be yourself. Being different makes the world a better place.
- Zebra:
- An animal that looks like a horse and has black and white stripes.
- Rainbow:
- Colors in the sky after it rains. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
- Stripes:
- Lines of color.
- wise:
- Smart and able to make good choices.
- giggled:
- Laughed in a silly, quiet way.
One passage, many ways to practice
Reading-skill questions, word work and writing prompts — all built from this text.
Main Idea
Identify the central idea and explain how important details develop it.
Context Clues
Use clues in the passage to work out what words mean. A separate printable Vocabulary worksheet is also available.
Summarize
Select, organize, and restate the most important information without adding opinion.
Purpose
Analyze what the author aims to do and how choices serve audience and purpose.
Structure
Analyze how sections and organizational choices build the text's ideas or effects.
Writing Prompts
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Preview questions from this passageShowHide
- 1What kind of animal is Ziggy?
- 2What color are zebra stripes usually?
Where this passage belongs
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About this fiction passage for Lower Elementary
“Ziggy's Rainbow Stripes” is a fiction reading passage about Being Different, written for Lower Elementary. It takes about 2 minutes to read (225 words) and comes with an interactive quiz and a printable worksheet with comprehension questions and an answer key.