CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.9

ELA1st GradeIntegration of Knowledge and Ideas

The Standard

Identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic (e.g., in illustrations, descriptions, or procedures).

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Reading Standards for Informational Text

What This Standard Means

Students compare two nonfiction texts about the same topic. They notice what is alike and different in pictures, facts, words, steps, and details. They should be able to say things like, “Both books show a frog’s eggs,” or “This book tells how it grows, but this one tells where it lives.”

Mastery looks like a student naming a clear similarity and a clear difference, using evidence from both texts. Many first graders retell one book at a time instead of comparing. They may also compare tiny picture details that do not matter, so guide them toward facts, descriptions, and procedures.

Ways to Teach It

Give partners two short animal books and sticky notes labeled Same and Different to mark matching facts and unique facts.
Ask students to finish: “Both texts teach us that ___, but only one text says ___.”
Show two pages on the same topic and have students give one similarity and one difference before lining up.
Compare two simple recipes or how-to posters, then discuss which steps are the same and which are different.