Wednesday, April 20, 2011

What's Alike? What's Different?


Sleeping Sarah
Photo by Georgia LV

Sleeping Monster
Photo by Georgia LV

Many cats pass through our little farmstead here in Holland, NY.  In the two photos above, you can see two of them.  Sarah is still with us, and Monster is just in our memories now.  When I look at these two photographs, I can see the ways that these two cats were the same (very furry, soft, happy sleepers, chubby paws) as well as the ways they are different (girl/boy, nervous/comfortable, no tail/tail, inside/outside).  Sometimes when I write poems, I highlight the ways that things are the same as well as the ways they are different.

Compare and Contrast Poems

Students - as we go through life and notice things, we cannot help but make comparisons.  In our minds, we often think about how things are like each other and how they are not.  In the following few poems, you will see that I have compared and contrasted different things, letting them bump against each other, watching how they are alike and different.  

The first poem compares two types of birds, the second poem compares one flower at two different times, and the third poem compares two types of written communication.  


from November 2010


from October 2010


from October 2010

Here are two more poems that highlight a comparison or contrast.  What do they compare?  What are some other ways a person might compare clocks or reading? 

Reading Time
Two Clocks

Writing is a way to look at the world, to see connections and to put things together in different ways.  Today try looking around your own world for connections.  What two things are alike?  What two things are different from each other?  If you are interested by your thoughts and observations...start writing and follow your own mind to see what connections you make.  Putting two things together give you an interesting piece of writing.

For all of this month, I have been rounding up poems from last year, categorizing them into various piles of poetry ideas and strategies.  Please feel free to revisit some of the other posts and share any poems you write or thoughts you have in the comments.

This Month's Poetry Revisits and Lessons So Far

April 1 -   Poems about Poems
April 2 -   Imagery
April 6 -   Free Verse
April 9 -   Poems about Science
April 10 - Rhyming Couplets  
April 11 -  Riddle Poems 
April 12 -  List Poems 
April 13 -  Poems for Occasions
April 14 -  Concrete Poems
April 15 -  Poems about Food
April 16 -  Quatrains
April 18 -  Alliteration
April 19 -  Poems about Sports
April 20 -  Today - Compare/Contrast Poems

(Please click on POST A COMMENT below to share a thought.)

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for sharing these! They are going to make for a wonderful lesson on compare and contrast for my second grade class!

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