Curated OER
Compare and Contrast Two Settings in One Text
Look for the signal words! Scholars get both instruction and practice comparing and contrasting. Although it is completely scripted, it can also serve as a detailed outline. Demonstrate this as you read a passage (included) and search...
Teacher's Corner
Compare and Contrast Dr. Seuss
Celebrate Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss' birthday with this compare and contrast graphic organizer in which three stories are examined for their setting, characters, problems, events, and solution.
Curated OER
Compare and Contrast Settings
Third graders compare different lifestyles. In this settings lesson plan, 3rd graders read Colonial Life, determine similarities and differences between today and life in Colonial times and write a passage about these similarities and...
Curated OER
I'm a Changed Pig
Introduce your class to fairy tales with this instructional activity. After reading the fractured fairy tale, "The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig," third, fourth, and fifth graders write a personal narrative as a response to the...
Curated OER
Searching for Stars
Positive character traits in literature are explored in this character development and literacy lesson. Learners listen to Cinderella by Charles Perrault and Little Gold Star by Robert D. San Souci, followed by a discussion comparing the...
Curated OER
Slimy Advertising and a Wicked Resume
Learners compare and contrast a classic fairy tale with a fractured one. They write an advertisement that would entice a witch and a resume for a frog prince who is hiring. They publish their completed work.
Curated OER
Newcomers
Explore emotions associated with moving to a new home with young learners. First they listen to the books Painted Words/Spoken Memories by Aliki and Going Home by Eve Bunting. Then they are invited to share their experiences as well as...
English Worksheets Land
Compare and Contrast
Even though two passages discuss the same topic, they contain different facts and details. Scholars analyze two reading passages about the Gettysburg Address and list the ways they are the same and different.
English Worksheets Land
Great Discoveries
Compare and contrast two paragraphs describing Alexander Fleming's scientific discovery of penicillin using this compare-and-contrast reading learning exercise where scholars explain what happens through writing, decide whether the...
Curriculum Corner
Book Study: The Polar Express
All aboard! Pair a reading of The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg with a set of literacy activities. The packet of worksheets includes task cards, sorting activities, a synonym match, comparing and contrasting activities, writing...
Curated OER
Tell It to the Judge - Persuasive Essay
Students write a persuasive essay that compares and contrasts a classic fairy tales with a fractured one. They use the writing process to complete and publish the essay.
Student Handouts
Learning Cubes
Add a game-like aspect to class discussion or writing with a die that has something other than numbers on it. You or your learners can roll the die to decide if it's time analyze, compare and contrast, describe, explain and illustrate,...
Film Education
The Jungle Book
Accompany a viewing of Disney's live-action feature film, The Jungle Book, with a packet equipped with several activities focused on story elements. Scholars discuss and complete diagrams and charts about the movie's characters, setting,...
Scholastic
The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
Practice sequencing events using Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's narrative poem about the famous revolutionary hero. Learners read Revere's own account of the event, and compare/contrast the two texts using a t-chart. Finally, they imagine...
Curated OER
Fractured Fairy Tales
Through reading and writing, learners explore common elements found in fairy tales. After discussing traditional fairy tales, class members listen to The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by John Scieszka, a hilarious retelling of the...
Museum of Disability
Ian’s Walk and Apples for Cheyenne
Help young learners understand friendship and empathy with two reading comprehension lessons. Each lesson focuses on a story about a child with autism, and encourages readers to compare and contrast the characters to each other and to...
Curated OER
From the Middle Ages Straight to You
Students read a "letter" from Dr. Suess' Bartholomew Cubbins and note differences between their lives and Bartholomew's. They utilize prewriting strategies to draft a letter of response to Bartholomew.
Curated OER
Text Features of Fiction, Poetry, Drama: Story Matrix
How do novels differ from plays? Explore with your class the text features of fiction and drama by reading The Hidden One: Native American Legend and then performing a reader’s theater script based on the story. Class members create a...
Curated OER
Locate Key Information in Nonfiction Text
Interpret nonfiction text with your class. Readers use key information found in nonfiction text to answer questions and problem solve. They utilize the chapter headings, diagrams, glossary, maps, and captions as well as the table of...
English Worksheets Land
That Darn Cat!
Read about the darnedest can in two fables adapted from Aesop's Fables. Readers answer three reading comprehension questions that prompt them to compare and contrast animal characters in the two stories.
Curated OER
Comparing Tales through Performance
Students compare and contrast versions of The Three Little Pigs. In this fairy tale lesson, students read 3 versions of the fairy tale and dramatize them in order to analyze the similarities and differences.
Curated OER
One Room School House Reading Lesson
Students explore schools during the Colonial period. In this American history instructional activity, students participate in a simulation of school days in Colonial America. Students visit a museum and use the schoolhouse as a setting...
Mary Pope Osborne, Classroom Adventures Program
Dinosaurs Before Dark
Young readers travel back to the time of the dinosaurs in this literature unit based on the story Dinosaurs Before Dark. Intended for use with upper-elementary special education students, this resource provides reading comprehension,...
Classroom Adventures Program
Creating Characters
Examine character in depth. Over the course of these six lessons, learners explore their own character traits, determine the traits of characters in the books they read, practice comparing and contrasting, and collaborate in small groups...