edHelper.com Inventors and Inventions Children in History

Thomas Alva Edison - Bright Ideas

---

Thomas Alva Edison - Bright Ideas
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 4 to 6
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	5.57

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		curiosity, experimentation, inspiration, skilled, lifetime, teens, equipment, saying, series, print, army, laboratory, tally, lead, whatever, however
	content words:		Thomas Alva Edison, Alva Edison, When Al, Al Edison, Grand Trunk Herald, All Thomas, Morse Code, Civil War, Thomas Edison

---

Print Thomas Alva Edison - Bright Ideas
edHelper.com subscriber options:

	Print Thomas Alva Edison - Bright Ideas  (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)
	Quickly print reading comprehension
	Print a proofreading activity

---

Feedback on Thomas Alva Edison - Bright Ideas

Leave your feedback on Thomas Alva Edison - Bright Ideas  (use this link if you found an error in the story)

---

Thomas Alva Edison - Bright Ideas By Jane Runyon

---

¹     Thomas Alva Edison was an inventor. He held over 1,000 patents for his inventions during his lifetime. It was he who brought us light from a glass bulb. It was he who let people listen to music from a machine. It was he who invented a transmitter that would lead to the invention of the telephone. Thomas Alva Edison didn't just wake up one morning and say, "I want to be an inventor." His curiosity and inventiveness started at a very early age.
 
²     Thomas was born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio. Six brothers and sisters had been born into the Edison family before Thomas made his appearance. Thomas's father was a carpenter. He was skilled at building things from wood. Thomas's mother had been a school teacher.
 
³     Thomas's family called him Al when he was growing up. Al started school with other children his age. He didn't stay in school very long, however. Al struggled in school. He didn't pay any attention to what the teacher was saying. His mind wandered to other subjects. Some of the teachers in the school thought that Al just wasn't very smart. They wanted him put into a school for children with learning problems. Al's mother would have none of that. She was a teacher. She would teach him at home herself.

Paragraphs 4 to 9:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable


Copyright © 2008 edHelper