Students read multiple poems grouped under "The Mountain States" and "The Pacific Coast States," all dealing with the West, and are asked to synthesize what they learned about culture and geography (Question #2). Students are asked which poem creates the most vivid image and to describe what they see (Question #4), prompting consideration of differences in imagery. Students reread "Boulder, Colorado" and "Skier" to note couplet structure and follow rhyming patterns (Activity 1), which has them attend to structural and stylistic choices across poems.

Students are asked to analyze two Robert Frost poems ("Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" and "The Pasture") and answer questions about setting, stanza structure, and voice. Activity 3 directs students to complete a Venn diagram comparing the poem "Gulls and Buoys" to the poem "dog," and explicitly suggests comparing theme, rhyme, stanza lines, and use of metaphor. The parent/teacher notes also offer an option that requires the child to compare two poems using a Venn diagram.

Students are directed to compare Jack's poem "Love That Dog" with Walter Dean Myers's "Love That Boy" using a graphic organizer that separates similarities (center boxes) and differences (outer boxes). The Student Activity Page and Activity 1 explicitly ask students to record comparisons and observations, and the Parent Plan lists specific similarities and differences (structure, identical lines, subject change, differing similes, stanza count). Students are asked to read both poems and to use those observations to complete the organizer.

Students create a plot flowchart for Noah's story and are instructed to create a plot flowchart for Nadia's story (Activity 2). Students are asked at the end to consider "How are Nadia and Noah similar and how are they different?" and parent/teacher prompts ask questions about relationships and how characters struggle. Students also complete comprehension questions about Nadia and Noah that surface connections between the characters and their relationships.

The lesson asks students to "briefly discuss some differences between Nadia's voice and Noah's voice" and directs them to write three things they notice about Nadia once they hear her story in her voice (Activity 2). The Parent Plan explicitly lists the skill to "Connect, compare, and contrast ideas, themes, and issues across text." Parent discussion questions prompt students to compare how they see Nadia's father in her story versus in Noah's story.

The lesson's Life Application asks students to "Watch Alice in Wonderland, and see if you can make any comparisons between the movie and the party at Julian's house," which prompts students to compare elements from the story to another work. Activity 3 centers on the theme of friendship and asks students to generate words/phrases and write a paragraph describing a friend, giving students practice identifying and developing a theme.

Students record words and phrases describing the three main women characters from multiple folktales in the 'Women Characters' activity, which asks them to analyze and compare character traits across stories. In Activity 3 students locate hyperboles in 'Bess Call' and generate hyperboles for each of the three stories, prompting comparison of authors' use of a characteristic tall-tale technique. Activity 5 directs students to create a Venn diagram comparing the legend of Johnny Appleseed to the real John Chapman, requiring direct comparison of two accounts of the same topic. The Parent Plan and Skills list explicitly state students should "describe similarities and differences across texts."

Students read multiple trickster tales (two Brer Rabbit stories and suggested Anansi tales) and answer text-based questions about characters and plot. The Parent Plan lists the skill "Compare and contrast tales from different cultures by tracing the exploits of one character" and asks students to "Develop theories to account for similar tales in diverse cultures (e.g., trickster tales)." Activity 4 has students create their own trickster character, prompting attention to genre conventions and character roles across stories.

Activity 6 "Same Story, Different Version" directs students to read another version of John Henry and record five differences and three similarities between the two versions. Students read multiple Midwest folktales ("Sal Fink," "Sweet Betsey from Pike," "Old Sally Cato," and "John Henry") and are prompted to "review some of the themes" they found across the stories. The parent plan lists the skill to "Compare and contrast information on the same topic after reading several passages or articles."

Students read multiple folktales and tall tales in the same genres (trickster tales and tall tales), including "Pale-Faced Lightning," "Sister Fox and Brother Coyote," "Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby," and "Pecos Bill." Activity 1 asks students to compare "Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby" and "Sister Fox and Brother Coyote" using a graphic organizer or another method and to show at least three similarities and differences. Activity 3 asks students to outline a new trickster tale that follows the same theme and storyline but with a different setting. Wrap-up and Day 2 discussion questions prompt students to note similarities between "Pecos Bill" and other tall tales they have read.

Students read multiple stories of similar types (Hekeke, Hiiaka, Paul Bunyan) and are asked reflective questions that invite comparison, such as Day 1 parent prompts asking whether Hekeke and Et-tetti are heroes and Day 2 prompts asking which tall tale they enjoyed most and why. Students identify the message of a myth (Activity 1) and answer questions about relationships and character differences in Hiiaka and Pele, and Activity 5 asks students to highlight important relationships when they retell a legend. The lesson also prompts thinking about how cultures are reflected in stories and asks students to consider unique relationships in different types of stories.

Students are prompted to consider how folktales reflect the culture and history of a region in the "Ideas to Think About" section and are asked to choose whether to write a legend, tall tale, or trickster tale, which highlights genre awareness. The wrap-up discussion includes the question, "Which folktale do you think your story is most similar to?" and parents are instructed to ask the child to describe how setting and cultural details function in the story. These elements ask students to recognize genre features and to relate their own story to a folktale.

The lesson asks students to review elements of historical fiction and to name other historical fiction novels they have read, which prompts recall of multiple texts. The Special Notes instruct students to discuss how other historical fiction characters' experiences are similar and different from Dina's, encouraging some cross-text comparison. The Parent Plan lists the skill "Analyze differences among genres," indicating attention to analysis of similarities and differences.

Students are asked to recall other survival stories they have read or seen (Introducing the Lesson) and to review the plots of various survival stories (Parent Plan). Activity 2 prompts students to think back on a book or movie, identify hardships characters faced, and describe how they overcame them. Discussion prompts ask students to identify features of survival stories and to describe setting, characters, problem, climax, and resolution on a plot diagram.

Students are asked directly, "How are Sam and Henry David Thoreau similar?" and prompted to discuss similarities between Sam and Thoreau in the parent discussion questions. The lesson recommends reading Walking with Henry: Based on the Life and Works of Henry David Thoreau, which gives students a second text about similar themes (living in harmony with nature). Discussion prompts also ask students whether they would enjoy living a life like Thoreau and Sam, encouraging comparison of themes such as simple living and relationship with nature.

Students are asked to listen to an original Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale and then compare it to a different version or a movie adaptation (Activity 2). Students complete a "Two Versions" graphic organizer that has columns for Original and Revised versions and rows for Characters, Setting, Events, Message/Moral, and Mood/Tone, with directions to note similarities and differences (Activity 3). The Parent Plan also prompts comparing print, visual, and electronic media and analyzing ideas and points of view.

Students are asked to read the myth of Prometheus (Activity 4) and to retell it in their own words. In the "Two Thieves?" activity students write about similarities between Hugo and Prometheus and answer specific comparison questions (e.g., reasons for stealing, whether Prometheus was a thief, how Hugo relates, and ways each was punished). The lesson also asks students to analyze a shared theme (Purpose) by writing about the purpose of Hugo, Isabelle, and Papa Georges, and the parent plan lists the skill to "Connect, compare, and contrast ideas, themes, and issues across text."

The Movies section includes Activity 3: "Analyze differences and similarities between an old and modern movie," which asks students to compare two films. Activity 1 in Movies asks students to "Choose a book scene and design a storyboard for a movie adaptation," which has students make choices about how a story is presented. These activities require students to examine and note similarities and differences in how stories are presented in film form.

Activity 2 asks students to "think of a science fiction book you have read or a science fiction movie you have seen" and to "describe how the book or movie follows the elements of science fiction" in the ovals. A second activity page directs students to "record elements of science fiction from the story" for A Wrinkle in Time, providing matching graphic organizers for another work and for A Wrinkle in Time.

The Life Application and review prompts ask students to think back on books or movies and identify other times an antagonist used kindness to trick the protagonist, and to discuss other books or movies where an antagonist used such tactics. The 'Things to Review' and Parent Plan sections explicitly instruct discussion of other books or movies and why an antagonist might use this approach. These prompts require students to make connections between this chapter and other texts with similar antagonist behavior.

Students identify and provide evidence for the theme of good versus evil in A Wrinkle in Time using a graphic organizer that asks for characters' actions, story events, and author's descriptions. Students select or generate a theme for a science fiction short story and record it on a story map, using Theme Cards that list common themes in the genre. Parent prompts ask students to explain how the theme is revealed in A Wrinkle in Time and to plan how they will provide evidence for the theme in their own story.

Students read two biographical texts — Lincoln: A Photobiography and A Picture Book of Frederick Douglass — and record important events on note cards. Students complete Activity 6 by creating a Venn diagram in their journals that compares the lives of Lincoln and Douglass. Parent discussion prompts ask students to identify similarities and differences (for example, both being self-made and self-educated).