Expository Text Compare-Contrast
Produce expository text comparing two concepts using a Venn diagram scaffold.
Session summary (SOAP)
Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.
Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.
How to run it
Use the both-but frame explicitly and require both halves. Students given compare and contrast overwhelmingly produce only contrasts, and the similarities half is the one that needs prompting. Do the easy pairs first to establish the structure, then the ones that need content knowledge. A rough two-circle diagram on paper helps more than it should, because it makes the missing half visible. Twelve minutes covers three or four pairs.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentPresent the item and wait 5 seconds of quiet before helping.Log as correct
- Question promptAsk a story-grammar question: who, where, what was the problem, what happened next?Log as cued
- Two choicesOffer two possible next parts of the story and let the student pick and say it.Log as cued
- ModelTell that part yourself; the student tells it back in their own words.Log as cued
Adjust it
Use fewer parts, and keep a first-next-last visual on the table.
Ask for the retell without the pictures, with a feeling or a reason added to each part.
Matching IEP goal
Given a picture or story prompt, Student will explain a topic with a main idea and supporting details in 4 of 5 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than one question prompt.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Ten pairs to compare and contrast, starting with the frame supplied: compare cats and dogs — both… but…; then summer and winter, a book and a movie, frogs and toads, the ocean and a lake, insects and spiders, soccer and basketball. The pairs get harder as the differences get subtler — cats and dogs is easy, frogs and toads requires knowing something.
What to listen for
Listen for the comparison words. However, unlike, whereas and both are what turn two descriptions into a comparison, and a student who says cats are small, dogs are big has produced two facts side by side rather than a contrast. Watch whether they compare on the same dimension — size against size — since comparing a cat's size to a dog's loyalty is a common and slippery error.
Carrying it home
Comparing two things the student knows well takes a minute and no materials. Two games, two teachers, two seasons — asking for one way they are the same and one way they differ is the whole task.
What's in this activity
- Compare and contrast cats and dogs. Both... but...
- Compare and contrast summer and winter.
- Compare and contrast a book and a movie.
- Compare and contrast frogs and toads.
- Compare and contrast the ocean and a lake.
- Compare and contrast a bicycle and a car.
- Compare and contrast a city and a farm.
- Compare and contrast insects and spiders.
- Compare and contrast pencils and pens.
- Compare and contrast soccer and basketball.
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- Third through sixth, matched to when compare-and-contrast writing is expected.
- Do I need an account?
- No, all ten prompts play free in the browser.
- My student only lists differences. Where do I start?
- With the word both. Requiring one both sentence before any contrast forces the similarity half, and most students find it harder than they expect.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.