Craft Lesson #3: Comparing and Contrasting

Resources and other Materials: I Love Saturdays y Domingos by Alma Flor Ada

Discussion:
It is important for students to be able to compare and contrast different things. Through writing a compare/contrast paper students are able to see the similarities and differences between different things. Then it is possible for them to come to a conclusion about possibly making a decision.
In the book I Love Saturdays y Domingos by Alma Flor Ada a bilingual girl compares the different activities and personal qualities that she enjoys with each of her two sets of grandparents. Though she does different activities with each set of grandparents, she loves them each the same.

How to Teach It:
I am going to read a book titled I Love Saturdays y Domingos by Alma Flor Ada. It is about a bilingual girl who has two sets of grandparents that are very different, but she loves them each the same. Listen for the similarities and differences that her two sets of grandparents have. In the story she calls one set of grandparents “Grandma and Grandpa” and her other set of grandparents “Abuelita and Abuelito”. Abuelita is the Spanish word for grandma and Abuelito is the Spanish word for grandpa.

I’m going to have a list of the similarities and another list of the differences between the girl’s grandparents. Can anyone name any similarities between the girl’s grandparents?
Ex: Both grandfathers like to tell stories about when they were growing up. Both grandmothers like to tell stories about their families when they were young.
(I would write the similarities as a list on the board)

Can you name any differences?
Ex: Her Grandma has a cat, and her Abuelita has a dog. She watches movies about the circus with her Grandma and Grandpa. She goes to the circus with her Abuelita and Abuelito.
(I would write the differences as a separate list on the board)

Now that we know what a story is like that compares and contrasts different things or people, I want you to try and write your own comparing and contrasting story. You can compare/contrast anything you want. You can compare and contrast the activities and personal traits of your own grandparents like the girl in the book did, or you can pick two totally different things or people to compare and contrast. You might even try comparing two different options for a decision you are trying to make. To start off you might want to make a list of the similarities and then a list of differences so you can have a starting point for your story.