Virginia SOL 4.RI.3.B
The Standard
Compare and contrast multiple accounts of the same event or topic and describe the differences in focus and the information provided.
Virginia Standards of Learning for English · Integration of Concepts
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students read two or more texts about one event or topic. They identify shared facts, unique details, and what each author emphasizes.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can sort details into shared and account-specific groups. The student can explain each author’s focus and support the comparison with details from both texts.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may list facts from each account without comparing them. They may confuse a different focus with a factual disagreement or rely on prior knowledge instead of text evidence.
How to Assess It
- Give students two short accounts of the same event. Ask, “What does each account focus on, and what information appears in only one account?”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give students detail cards from two accounts to sort under Both, Account A, or Account B, then label each account’s main focus.
Ask, “Which account teaches more about causes, and which teaches more about effects? Cite one detail from each.”
Play Detail Detective by reading a fact aloud while teams identify whether it appears in Account A, Account B, or both.
Compare a school newsletter report and a local news report about the same event, noting each source’s audience, focus, and details.
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Printable 4.RI.3.B Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 4.RI.3.B, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
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Related Standards
- 9.RI.3.A
Compare the perspectives and viewpoints of two or more authors regarding their treatment of the same or similar topics, including the details they include and e...
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Compare and contrast how two or more authors writing about the same topic shape their presentations or viewpoints of key information by emphasizing different fa...
- 5.RI.3.B
Analyze multiple accounts of the same event or topic, noting important similarities and differences in the point of view they represent.
- 4.RL.3.B
Compare and contrast details in paired literary and informational nonfiction texts including their treatment of similar themes, topics, and patterns of events.
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