Compare and contrast is a hard topic to teach without a visual aid. Compare and Contrast means to point out similarities and differences between two items or ideas. For example, teachers can read a story with two or more characters with the intention to compare and contrast their actions or feelings. Teachers can also read two stories with the intent to compare and contrast events or outcomes.

Day 1: Make a graphic organizer and model how to compare and contrast two characters, items, or events in the story.

Day 2: Continue reading the story or reread and let the students identify a topic that they can compare and contrast complete a graphic organizer together.

Day 3: Give students their own copies of the graphic organizer and have them reread the story and complete the graphic organizer on their own. If the students are not able to complete the graphic organizer, share the pen and complete it as a group.

Formative assessment: Guide students to compare and contrast on their own verbally to the teacher or a partner while you determine mastery of the skill.

One thing that I always like to tell my students is that the main idea is what the text is mostly about and the key details are pieces of information that are important. One thing that I have found is that it can be challenging for students to understand what is an important peice of information and what is not.

So, try starting with just identifying the key details. You can start by giving the group a topic and sentence strips with details about the topic. Some are important and some are meaningless. For example, if the topic was baseball, you can list rules and other facts about the game, as well as details like it has a ball. Then for the not the important details add facts like the fans sit down, or the teams are all different colors. Those two facts are not important to the actual understanding of what baseball is. This will help students practice how to determine what is important and what is not.

After the students understand what a key detail is, follow the process of giving sentence strips with facts and details, but do not tell the students what the topic is. Hold a discussion about what the details are describing and create a main idea with the group.

One important part about predictions is that there is no wrong answer. I really enjoy starting the year off with predictions because it helps build a community by making all responses valid and safe. Before reading the story, hold a picture walk and let students talk about what they see on the page. After that have students begin reading the first page or few pages of the story, hold a silent think, and then a time to share. You can write the predictions down on a chart paper so that the group can revisit them after they read the next section. Predicting help students monitor what they are reading by guessing what will come next.

Cause and Effect is a concept that I have found that students grasp when connected to real life situations. I like to start the lesson off by modeling a situation with a very obvious cause and effect and chart the discussion. Teaching signal words is a great strategy for students to identify the cause and effect within a text. One way that this can be done in a guided reading group is for teachers to review the topic and signal words on day one, then begin reading the text on day two, including think alouds pointing out a cause and effect within the story. On day 3 and 4, the teacher can have students read and work with a partner to find more cause and effect events. Teachers can use the gradual release model to begin charting the findings, sharing the pen with students, and finally having students write it themselves.

Problem and Solution is a concept that I have found that students grasp when also connected to real life situations. I like to start the lesson off by modeling a situation with a very obvious problem and solution while charting the discussion. One way that this can be done in a guided reading group is for teachers to review the topic and relate the topic of problem/solution to a real life problem that the students can connect with. For example, one problem that I would have is that I lost my homework, then as a group I will think about possible solutions. Then, begin reading the text on day two, including think alouds pointing out a problem and the steps taken to the solution within the story. On day 3 and 4, the teacher can have students read and work with a partner to find more problem and solutions. Teachers can use the gradual release model to begin charting the findings, sharing the pen with students, and finally having students write it themselves.