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📘 How do you compare two story characters?

You sit on the grass with two picture books open. One page shows a hare laughing. The other shows a girl in ashes. Their clothes do not match. Their houses do not match. Still your mouth wants to say they are a bit the same, or a bit not. E

5
lessons
~25 min
to learn
Adults
level
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What you’ll learn

  1. Two faces, two booksHear that comparing characters means lining two people up and saying what is the same and what is different about their adventures — not picking a winner.Year 1 wants the particular characteristics of traditional tales. Grade 1 wants adventures and experiences compared. Same and different are piles. Better is not.
  2. What you line upCompare characters on one shelf at a time: looks, feelings, wants, or jobs, using the want that prompted the behaviour.Looks arrive first. Grade 3 wants traits, motivations, and feelings. Year 2 wants the cause. The princess wants the ball. Jack wants a full cupboard.
  3. Same job, different storySet characters from different tales beside each other when they share a job — a race, a store of food, a dangerous house, a small helper.Aesop's pairs teach opposite choices on one job. Jack and Hansel share a doorway, not a reason. A mouse and a cat can both be small helpers.
  4. The same girl, different slippersCompare two versions of Cinderella — Perrault's glass and godmother, Grimm's bird and grave-tree — and hear the tale's habit when the clothes change.Grade 2 names Cinderella stories on purpose. The shoe stays. The helper moves. Wand, bird, and boots are magical devices with different addresses.
  5. Say same. Say different.Say a both-sentence and a but-sentence about two characters, sort true compares from stretches, and try the skill tonight on two real books.Hinge words are small. Four steps, then stop. Tonight, two books on the floor. Then ask who decides two slipper-girls are still the same girl.

Questions this course answers

Common Core Grade 1 asks you to compare and contrast which pieces of characters in stories?

RL.1.9: compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in stories. Kindergarten's RL.K.9 is the same job with prompting and support, and only in familiar stories.

Name the kind of story Grade 2 uses as its example

RL.2.9 names Cinderella stories on purpose: compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story by different authors or from different cultures.

Match each character to the want that moves them

Grade 3: describe characters by traits, motivations, or feelings. Year 2: what has prompted a character's behaviour. The want is the cause. The action is the effect.

Put the steps for saying a comparison in order

Florida's Character Compare wants shared characteristics in the middle before unique ones on the sides. A fifth sentence that crowns a winner is a vote.

Which sentence is a true comparison, not a stretch or a vote?

A true compare names a job, feeling, or want you can point at. A stretch would fit any two characters. A vote picks a favourite.

In what year were Charles Perrault's Mother Goose tales, including Cinderella, printed as a collection?

Perrault's Histoires ou Contes du temps passé — including Cendrillon, or the little glass slipper — were printed in 1697. That is the French telling Grade 2 sets beside other Cinderellas.

Grounded in trusted sources

  • Common Core State Standards Initiative, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.9 — with prompting and support, compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in familiar stories; RL.1.9 — compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in stories; RL.2.3 — describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges; RL.2.9 — compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures; RL.3.3 — describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events; RL.3.9 — compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters (e.g., in books from a series), https://www.thecorestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RL/K/ https://www.thecorestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RL/1/ https://www.thecorestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RL/2/ https://www.thecorestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RL/3/
  • UK Department for Education, National curriculum in England: English programmes of study — Year 1 Reading comprehension: becoming very familiar with key stories, fairy stories and traditional tales, retelling them and considering their particular characteristics; explain clearly their understanding; participate in discussion, taking turns; non-statutory note: role play can help pupils to identify with and explore characters. Year 2: becoming increasingly familiar with and retelling a wider range of stories, fairy stories and traditional tales; non-statutory: cause and effect in narrative (what has prompted a character's behaviour); role play and other drama techniques. Years 3 and 4: increasing familiarity with fairy stories, myths and legends; identifying themes and conventions; inferring characters' feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions and justifying inferences with evidence; non-statutory: recognise themes such as the triumph of good over evil or the use of magical devices in fairy stories and folk tales, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-english-programmes-of-study/national-curriculum-in-england-english-programmes-of-study
  • Florida Center for Reading Research, Kindergarten and First Grade Student Center Activities, Comprehension C.008 Character Compare — objective: the student will identify similarities and differences between characters; sample organizer: Baby Bear / Goldilocks, shared characteristics (young, like porridge) and unique ones (bear, brown fur / girl, blonde hair). Second and Third Grade Comprehension C.002 Compare-A-Character — same objective, graphic organizer with unique and shared characteristics, https://fcrr.org/student-center-activities/kindergarten-and-first-grade https://fcrr.org/sites/g/files/upcbnu2836/files/media/PDFs/student_center_activities/k1_comprehension/k1_narrative_text_structure/k1_c008_character_compare.pdf https://fcrr.org/sites/g/files/upcbnu2836/files/media/PDFs/student_center_activities/23_narrative_text_structure/23_c002_compare_a_character.pdf
  • Charles Perrault, The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault, illustrated by Harry Clarke, George G. Harrap, 1922; English of Robert Samber revised by J. E. Mansion — Cinderilla; or, The Little Glass Slipper: godmother, wand, cloth of gold and silver, glass slippers (pantoufles de verre), midnight; The Master Cat; or, Puss in Boots: miller's youngest son inherits only the cat, who asks for a bag and boots. Collected French edition of the Histoires ou Contes du temps passé, 1697, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/29021/29021-h/29021-h.htm
  • Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household Tales, translated by Margaret Hunt, tale 21 Cinderella (Aschenputtel) — hazel twig on the mother's grave watered with tears; a bird throws down a dress of gold and silver and slippers embroidered with silk and silver; tale 1 The Frog-King, or Iron Henry — golden ball, promise of companionship, the king insists a promise must be performed; tale 15 Hansel and Gretel; tale 27 The Bremen Town Musicians, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/5314/5314-h/5314-h.htm
  • Aesop, The Æsop for Children, with pictures by Milo Winter, Rand McNally, 1919 — The Hare and the Tortoise: the Hare mocks the Tortoise, they race, the Hare naps, the Tortoise wins; moral: The race is not always to the swift. The Ants and the Grasshopper: stored grain versus summer music; moral: There's a time for work and a time for play. The Lion and the Mouse: a kindness is never wasted, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/19994/19994-h/19994-h.htm
  • Shanahan, T., Callison, K., Carriere, C., Duke, N. K., Pearson, P. D., Schatschneider, C., & Torgesen, J. (2010). Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade: A Practice Guide (NCEE 2010-4038). Institute of Education Sciences, What Works Clearinghouse. Recommendation 1 — teach reading comprehension strategies (strong evidence). Regional Educational Laboratory toolkit based on that guide includes a student handout to compare and contrast characters, https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/practiceguide/14 https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/rel/reading-comprehension-k-3/
  • Adler, C. R. (Ed.). 2001. Put Reading First: The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read; presented on Reading Rockets as Seven Strategies to Teach Students Text Comprehension — students relate what they have learned to what they already know, including connections from one text to another, https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/comprehension/articles/seven-strategies-teach-students-text-comprehension

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