CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.3
The Standard
Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact).
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Reading Standards for Literature
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students find meaningful similarities and differences between characters, settings, or events in one literary text. They use precise details from the text to support and explain each comparison.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students choose relevant points of comparison and explain both similarities and differences. They cite precise actions, dialogue, thoughts, or descriptions and explain what those details reveal.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may list traits without showing how the characters, places, or events relate. They may use vague evidence, confuse setting with plot, or compare details that do not matter.
How to Assess It
- Give an exit ticket: “Choose two characters from today’s reading. Name one meaningful difference and support it with one exact action, thought, or line from each character.”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs detail cards from a story to sort into a Venn diagram for two characters, then label each card with its page number.
Ask students to write: “How do the two characters respond differently to the same problem, and what does each response reveal?”
Play Comparison Relay, where teams find a text detail for a given character, setting, or event and place it under Similar or Different.
Have students compare two familiar school events, using specific details to explain how each setting affects people’s actions and feelings.
Free download
Printable RL.5.3 Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.3, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.
Download the worksheetLearning progression
Where This Standard Sits
See the whole path on the Reading: Literature progression map.
Before This Standard
If students are struggling here, check these first.
What This Unlocks
Mastery here sets students up for these next.
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Related Standards
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.5
Compare and contrast the overall structure (e.g., chronology, comparison, cause/effect, problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or information in two or m...
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.3
Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot).
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.9
Compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in stories.
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