South Dakota ELA 3.RL.9

ELA3rd GradeReading Literature

The Standard

Compare and contrast the central message, themes, settings, and plots of stories about the same or similar topics.

South Dakota English Language Arts Standards (2025)

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students read two stories about a similar topic and name each story's big idea and lesson. They note where each story takes place and what happens. They explain what is alike and different, using details from both stories.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student can say that two stories are both about hard work but teach different lessons about it. They can name a setting and a key event from each story to explain one similarity and one difference.
Common Misconceptions: Students may think stories about the same topic must teach the same lesson. They may call a character's action the theme or mistake where an event happens for the event itself. Some retell both plots without comparing them.
How to Assess It: After reading The Tortoise and the Hare and The Little Red Hen, give students a chart with rows for big idea, lesson, setting, and key events. Ask them to add one similarity and one difference below it.

Lesson moves

Read The Tortoise and the Hare and The Little Red Hen, then sort sticky-note details into big idea, lesson, setting, and plot columns.
Ask partners, "What does each story say about hard work?" Have them name one event from each story that supports their answer.
Play Match or Different: read a statement about the two stories, then have students hold up M or D and explain their choice.
Partners tell stories about helping at home, then use a two-column chart to compare where, what happened, and what each story taught.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 3.RL.9, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.

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