Students are asked to read the book Tornado (a narrative about a real tornado) and are also encouraged to read about tornadoes in a weather book or on the Internet, providing two different texts about the same topic. Students are asked to write three factual sentences about tornadoes and to discuss the difference between factual and nonfactual information. Students complete map and descriptive activities (Tornado Alley map, labeling, and explanation) that build knowledge from informational sources about tornadoes.

Activity 2 asks students to read an "Author's Description" and a "Simple Description" of the same scene, tell the difference between them, underline the words that make the author's writing exciting, and write their own description. The lesson also has students listen to Chapter 2 and verbally summarize it, and asks students to produce a written chapter summary in Activity 1.

Students read multiple cultural myths in the book How the Turtle Got Its Shell and are asked to "Retell one of the myths" and to answer "In what ways were the stories similar? Different?" Students also complete a Story Map Graphic Organizer for a chosen myth (setting, characters, problem, events, solution) and conduct Turtle Research by locating information in books and/or on the Internet and filling facts about turtles on the shell-shaped worksheet.

Students are asked to read the book Sarah, Plain and Tall and to read expository information about Kansas and Maine in an encyclopedia or on the Internet (Activity 3). Students locate and list six facts about each state and create five-senses poems describing each environment, and they color and identify Maine and Kansas on a map (Activity 1 and Student Activity Pages). The Wrapping Up prompts ask students to describe differences between Maine and Kansas and to consider what it would be like to move between them. The Questions to Explore explicitly ask how environments can be compared and contrasted.

Activity 2 directs students to read Chapter 4 (from Who Was Helen Keller?) and then read the biography Alexander Graham Bell by Barbara Kramer and asks what information in the biography the student had already learned from Chapter 4. The activity explicitly asks, "Were there any differences?" which prompts students to note similarities and differences between the two texts. The same activity has students write ten facts about Bell's life, requiring them to extract and record specific details from the biography. The Skills section also lists reading expository materials for answers and recalling main ideas, facts, and details, which supports comparing content across texts.

The lesson's Skills section explicitly asks students to "Discuss similarities and differences in events, characters, and concepts within and across texts" and to "Connect and compare information within and across selections." Activity 3 provides two example passages about the same event (a dog running away) and asks students directly "How are the writing pieces different?" and which words or phrases they like, prompting side-by-side comparison. Activity 2 asks students to find other books and read sections that reflect an author's voice and to discuss how the author makes writing lively, which requires comparing features across texts.

Students are instructed to use the book they have just finished reading and to look up new information in an encyclopedia or on the Internet when recording ideas for the scrapbook, which involves working with multiple texts. Students record important events and key details on the "Scrapbook Ideas" pages and draft journal entries (birth, school, home, proudest moment) that draw from those sources. For the interview option, students develop five questions about "very important things in the person's life" and then write Helen's answers, requiring them to pull details from factual sources.

Students reread Voices in the Park and use a four-part Venn diagram to record what the four narrators have in common and what is unique to each account (Activity 4). Students write independent descriptions of the same outing (child and parent) and then compare how the two accounts differ and are alike using guided discussion questions (Activity 5). Students also record two important events from each chapter in a journal entry, identifying events they consider most important (Activity 1).

The lesson's Skills list explicitly directs students to "Discuss similarities and differences in events, characters, and concepts within and across texts," and activities ask students to identify similarities and differences between Morning Girl and Star Boy (e.g., Questions #5, Activity 3). Students are asked to record feelings, events, and descriptive phrases about characters and to compare those characters' lives to their own (Wrapping Up). These tasks require students to compare key details and events about characters and to summarize character information.

The lesson asks students to compare Encounter with Morning Girl directly (Question #7 asks how the boy's encounter is similar to and different from Morning Girl's encounter). The Skills section explicitly includes connecting and comparing information within and across selections and discussing similarities and differences in events and concepts. Step 1 directs students to use the nonfiction "European Explorers and Native Americans" activity page together with Encounter to find examples of positive, negative, and mixed effects and place them under flaps, requiring cross-text evidence gathering and comparison.

Students view two books about different historical periods and are asked how the cultures and time periods look different from each other. Students record what they know, want to learn, and what they have learned for Ancient Egypt and the Middle Ages on separate organizer pages. Students compare concrete details by coloring and discussing clothing (Activity 4), locating and discussing differences in homes and drawing homes for each period (Activity 5), and drawing settings and sharing examples of how things in the Middle Ages and ancient Egypt differed (Activity 6).

Students are asked in Activity 4 (Being Poor) to reread pages in both Adventures in the Middle Ages and Hot on the Trail in Ancient Egypt and to record at least three similarities and three differences between laborers in Egypt and peasants in the Middle Ages. In Activity 5 (Social Class) students use information from both books to draw or assemble diagrams of the power structures in ancient Egypt and the Middle Ages, ordering groups from highest to lowest rank. The skills list also states that students will 'Connect and compare information within and across selections,' supporting cross-text comparison tasks.

Students are asked to read pages 16–31 in Adventures in the Middle Ages and to read about pyramids in Adventures in Ancient Egypt, then compare the model of the castle to the model of the pyramid. Students are prompted to discuss how the buildings are used differently and to compare uses when building the cardboard castle and reading about pyramids. Students complete a chart (or option 2 list) that asks them to identify similarities between castle life and modern community activities, practicing comparison skills.

Students are asked in Activity 4 to discuss and write about differences and similarities between the two books (Ancient Egypt and the Middle Ages), including which culture is most like their own. In Activity 6 students draw or record artifacts from both books and label them as AE or MA, then discuss how the artifacts differ and which seem more advanced. The Activities prompt students to identify noticeable differences between the two time periods and to record similarities in writing.

Students are asked to read pages in the two books from the unit and to "discuss the difference between the factual text and the fictional text," including reading the "Fact or Fantasy?" section in each book. Students are prompted to write one factual paragraph and one fantasy paragraph (Rough Draft: Fact and Fantasy) that contrast voice, detail, and action. The activities require students to collect information about a time period and to use details and examples in their factual paragraph.

Students read short biographical sections on Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington and answer specific comprehension questions after each reading. Students are explicitly asked to compare Jefferson and Franklin with the question, "How were Jefferson and Franklin similar?", prompting them to identify shared attributes and roles. Students complete Hero Cards and a wrap-up prompt asking them to describe how Jefferson, Washington, and Franklin changed America, requiring them to recall and summarize facts and details from multiple texts.

Students read two separate chapters—one on Abraham Lincoln and one on Harriet Tubman—and answer parallel comprehension questions about each figure (e.g., how they changed the world, how you would describe them, what can you learn). Students complete activities that put both heroes on hero cards and a shared timeline and are asked in the wrap-up to describe the remarkable role that both Harriet Tubman and Abraham Lincoln played in the nation. The Underground Railroad activity and the parallel question sets provide opportunities for students to gather key details about each person.

Students read two biographical chapters (Susan B. Anthony and Sandra Day O'Connor) and answer specific comprehension questions after each text, including factual questions about why Anthony was arrested and what O'Connor was the first to do. Students create hero cards for these two women and record their dates on a shared timeline, linking information from both texts. Students write declarative, interrogative, and exclamatory sentences about what they learned and questions they still have about both Anthony and O'Connor on the "Types of Sentences" activity page.

Students read separate short chapters on Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, and the Wright brothers and answer comprehension questions for each text. Students create hero cards for each scientist/inventor and place their names and birth dates on a shared timeline, organizing information across texts. The wrapping-up prompt asks students to describe some ways the heroes they have read about have had to persevere, which asks them to consider similarities across multiple texts.

Students are asked to use the "Deer Mouse Research" and "Great Horned Owl Research" pages to gather information from books and online sources about each animal (habitat, food source, predators, shelter, size, other information). Students make side-by-side lists in a journal of human characteristics for "mouse" and "owl," marking which characteristics apply as they read. The Skills section explicitly states students will "Read expository materials for answers to specific questions," indicating practice locating key details in informational texts.

The lesson's Skills list explicitly includes "Discuss similarities and differences in events, characters, and concepts among texts," which names the cross-text comparison skill. Several comprehension questions and activities ask students to compare characters and events (for example, Question #2 asks how Ragweed and Poppy are different, and students are asked to write three ways they are similar to a character). The Combining Sentences and wrap-up discussion also ask students to synthesize and discuss ideas, supporting comparative language practice.

Activity 3 instructs students to read two or three picture books about friendship and to discuss the characters and their relationships. The lesson tells students to think about how the friendships in Charlotte's Web are similar to other stories about friendship they have read. Activity 2 has students generate a bubble map of characteristics of a good friend and then check which of those descriptors apply to characters as they read.

Students are asked to watch the movie Charlotte's Web and discuss how the book and movie were similar and different. Students are directed to create a two-circle Venn diagram and record two or three things the book and movie had in common and two things unique to each. The lesson's skills list explicitly includes "Discuss similarities and differences in events, characters, and concepts within and across texts."

Students read an article about Christmas in France (the provided web link) and answer specific questions about foods, date, and traditions. Students complete a Venn diagram labeled "Christmas in France" and "Christmas in America" to list similarities and unique customs. The Skills section and activities instruct students to discuss similarities and differences and to recall main ideas, facts, and details from a text.

Students are asked to reread pages 60–64 of The Family Under the Bridge and to read a Reader's Theater script "Meeting the Gypsies," giving them two representations of the same scene. The Skills section explicitly lists comparing a dramatic performance with a print version of the same story. Students are instructed to follow along with the script, give characters voices, watch or record a performance, and discuss format and punctuation differences (colons, stage directions, end punctuation).

Activity 5 asks students to read about the Middle Ages in an encyclopedia, library books, or websites and then, as they read The Whipping Boy, to refer back to that factual information. Students are directed to illustrate and label what they learn about topics (transportation, clothing, homes, government, education, entertainment) and to "discuss places in the story that reflect the factual information" and "identify information in the story that is based on historical facts." Activity 6 requires students to create historically accurate comic-strip illustrations of events from The Whipping Boy and to refer to web pictures and reference material to ensure accuracy.

Students read Chapter 9 of the story and are also given an excerpt of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. Students answer and discuss questions that connect the two texts, such as "What was Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream?" and "What is Winnie doing to try to help Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream come true?" Students are prompted to discuss how Winnie's actions relate to King's goals and to create and illustrate their own dreams in response.