Students are asked to read "Two Chains" (from "I is for Iambic") aloud and then read "Bluebird" to note whether the two poems share a repeating pattern of rhythm (meter), which requires comparing rhythmic structure across two texts. Students identify rhyming patterns for three additional poems by assigning letter patterns (Activity 2), and they locate quatrains in three poems (Activity 1), which requires examining and applying stanza structure across multiple texts. Several activities require students to record and label structural elements (syllables, lines, stanzas, couplets) from different poems in the book.

Students read multiple poems in the "Great Lakes States" and "Plains States" sections and are asked to identify a haiku (with its 5-7-5 syllable pattern) and to write their own haiku using those structural elements. Students are directed to find two poems made of quatrain stanzas and record their titles and rhyming patterns (e.g., abab, abcb). The onomatopoeia activity asks students to locate a poem and list onomatopoetic words, showing attention to form and word-level patterns across texts.

Students are asked to reread two poems, "Boulder, Colorado" and "Skier," and to write their own two-couplet poem following the rhyming pattern of "Boulder, Colorado," which requires attention to stanza and rhyme structure. Students read the lyrics to "America the Beautiful" and are directed to decide where lines should begin and end if the song were read as poetry, comparing song and poem form. The Parent Plan lists the skill "Describe structural differences of various forms of writing," which prompts students to notice differences in structure between forms.

Students are asked to use a Venn diagram to compare the poem "Gulls and Buoys" (from My America) to the poem "dog," with directions that suggest comparing theme, rhyme, number of lines per stanza, and use of metaphor. Students analyze two Robert Frost poems and answer questions about setting, stanza count, stanza form (couplets, quatrains, cinquain), and perspective, which requires noting structural features of each poem. The Frost activity explicitly has students identify how many stanzas and the stanza types, prompting cross-text attention to poetic form.

Students are asked to compare Jack's poem "Love That Dog" with Walter Dean Myers's "Love That Boy" using a graphic organizer that directs them to record similarities in center boxes and differences in outer boxes. The Student Activity Page and parent guidance point students to note structural similarities (for example, identical lines and overall sameness of structure) and differences such as stanza count (one stanza vs. four stanzas) and line variations. Students are prompted to discuss and share the similarities and differences they found between the two poems.

Students complete plot flowcharts for Noah's story and are instructed to create a plot flowchart for Nadia's story, filling labeled boxes for Problem, Event 1, Event 2, Event 3, and Solution. Students are asked in the Wrapping Up section to explain how Nadia and Noah are similar and different, prompting a comparison between the two characters/stories. The flowchart activity requires students to sequence events and identify the problem and solution in each story.

The Parent Plan lists as a skill to "Connect, compare, and contrast ideas, themes, and issues across text," and the Introducing the Lesson asks students to "briefly discuss some differences between Nadia's voice and Noah's voice." Activity 2 directs students to write three things they notice about Nadia after hearing her story and to fill in Nadia's storyline, which invites comparison with Noah's earlier story. Wrapping Up discussion questions explicitly ask students to compare how Nadia's father is presented in Nadia's story versus Noah's story.

The Parent Plan lists as a skill that students will "Describe the structural differences of various imaginative forms of literature, including fantasies, fables, myths, legends, and fairy tales" and to "Recognize distinguishing factors of genre." Activity 1 directs students to match story titles to definitions of tall tales, myths, trickster tales, and legends, which has students identify and apply structural/genre features. Activity 3 has students sort story titles by U.S. region, requiring them to categorize texts based on origin and characteristics.

Students read multiple related texts (e.g., "Annie Christmas," "Susanna and Simon," two Brer Rabbit stories, and Anansi tales). The Parent Plan skills section explicitly instructs students to "Compare and contrast tales from different cultures by tracing the exploits of one character." Day 2 directs students to read two Brer Rabbit stories and answer parallel comprehension questions for each, providing material that could be compared across texts.

Students are asked in Activity 6: Same Story, Different Version to read another version of the story of John Henry and "record five ways the two versions of the story are different and three ways they are similar," which requires comparing two texts. The Parent Plan Skills section explicitly lists "Compare and contrast information on the same topic after reading several passages or articles." These prompts require students to identify similarities and differences between two versions of the same folktale.

Students are asked to compare "Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby" and "Sister Fox and Brother Coyote" using a provided graphic organizer (Activity 1, Option 1) or by listing at least three similarities and differences (Option 2). Activity 3 directs students to outline a trickster tale that follows the same storyline as those stories, prompting attention to plot sequence and parallel structure. The Transitional Words and Phrases activity includes comparison/contrast and cause/effect transitions that students must use in a written summary, supporting analysis of relationships between ideas.

Students are asked to create a plot diagram for a survival story that requires them to identify setting, characters, problem, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution (Activity 2). The Parent Plan prompts students to recall and review the plots of various survival stories they have read or seen. The skills list includes "Understand and analyze story plot, setting, and problem resolution," which directs students to analyze narrative structure.

Students are asked to find a newspaper and "look through a couple of articles to better understand how they are organized," which exposes them to the structure of multiple news texts. The lesson teaches organization of information using the 5 Ws and 1 H and requires students to plan their first paragraph to include who, what, when, and where. Paragraph organizers and the rubric prompt students to make paragraphs 2 and 3 each focus on specific topics and to ensure the first paragraph provides basic information.

Students listen to or read an original Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale and then compare it to a different version or a movie (Activity 2). Students complete a "Two Versions" graphic organizer that asks them to analyze and record Characters, Setting, Events, Message/Moral, and Mood/Tone for an Original Version and a Revised Version and note similarities and differences. The parent plan and skills list also direct students to compare print, visual, and electronic media and to use media to compare ideas and points of view.

Students read Chapters 1–4 of the book and answer comprehension questions, and they conduct independent research on Georges Méliès, taking about 20 note cards with facts and dates. Students are instructed to reread their cards and put them in chronological order. In the wrapping-up prompt, students are asked to consider how the information in the story is similar to and different from the information they found about Méliès.

The Parent Plan Skills list explicitly includes "Identify structural patterns found in informational text" and "Describe the structural differences of various imaginative forms of writing," which asks students to attend to text structure. Activity 3 requires students to collect at least eight examples of expository writing and "explain how you know that each one is an expository piece," prompting students to examine multiple texts. Activity 1 has students analyze elements of a biography and list how the author performs each element, which engages students in analyzing the structure of a single informational text.