Same & Different

In Math and in Reading, we have been talking about how things are the same and how they are different.
In Math, we compare shapes, buttons, children, etc.... and we observe how things look alike and how they look different. Today we did a craft (thank you SO much to Miss Julie, Mr. Cubbage, and Miss Confer who came in to help with our project. Wet glue and glitter is sometimes a dangerous combo to a 5 year old HAHA) to test our skills on being able to tell how things are the same or different. Using just some paper, a cardboard roll, and our handprints, children were given the choice to make either an angel or a reindeer for the Christmas season. Here is our end results:

reindeer

angels

"How are these two crafts the same?"

• they both use our handprints
• they both used paper
• we made them out of a cardboard tube

"How are these two crafts different?"

• one is an angel, the other is a reindeer
• the angel is white, the reindeer is brown
• the angel has glitter
• the reindeer has googley eyes

In Reading, we look at different stories and see how they are the same or different (compare & contrast). The easier way to do this in Reading is to find two different versions of a book (the characters are slightly different, the story is told from a different perspective, etc...) Some of my favorites are:

• The Three Little Pigs/The TRUE story of the Three Little Pigs
• The Little Red Hen/The Little Red Hen makes pizza

Today, for our appropiate holiday season, I chose The Gingerbread Man (one we read a few days ago) and The Gingerbread Girl

A little background info. I am sure that you are all familiar with The Gingerbread Man story (runs away from the little old man & the little old woman, plus a bunch of other characters only to end up being eaten by a devious and sneaky fox at the end of the book). For those of you who have never read The Gingerbread Girl, you are in for a treat! The lonely old woman and the lonely old man decide to bake a girl this time, but when they open the oven, she runs off like her brother did. Never fear, this smart cookie has a plan to outfox the fox. Will it work? You betcha! She takes a piece of her licorce hair, ties the fox's mouth shut and teaches him some manners to turn him into a pet :-)

"How are these books the same?"

• They both have cookies made out of gingerbread
• there is a little old man and little old woman
• there is a fox who tries to eat them

"How are these books different?"

• one is a girl, one is a boy
• the fox doesn't eat the girl
• the girl runs past a school, an artist, and a lady walking dogs

I encourage you to challenge your child to find things that are the same and different with common everyday objects you find at your house. As you can tell, they are pretty good at it :-)