We Are All Alike
Level J/18
Social Studies Teacher’s Guide
Skills & Strategies
Anchor Comprehension Strategy
•• Compare and Contrast
Phonics
•• r-controlled vowels
•• Syllabication
Content Vocabulary
•• Common needs of people
Grammar/Word Study
•• Describing words
Social Studies Big Idea
•• H
umans everywhere have the same
basic needs.
• Small Group Reading Lesson
• Skills Bank
• Reproducible Activities
B
e n c h m a r k
E
d u c a t i o n
C
o m p a n y
Small Group Reading Lesson
Day 1
Prediction Chart
How I think people around
the world are alike
Before
Reading
After Reading After Reading
the Whole Book
Chapter 1
They all have
homes.
They all need
a family.
They all use
words.
Activate Prior Knowledge
Show students the cover of the book and read the title. Ask:
• How are these children different?
• How are they alike?
Involve students in a discussion of what people need to live.
Distribute copies of the prediction chart (left). Have pairs of
students discuss ways they think people around the world are alike.
Ask them to write at least three of their ideas in the “Before
Reading” column of the chart and then share their ideas with the
group. Explain that students will come back to the chart to check
their predictions as they are reading the book.
Preview the Book
They all eat
food.
Give each student a copy of the book. Have students turn to the
table of contents. Ask:
• What can you learn about a book from its table of contents?
• What chapter would you go to if you wanted to find out why people
need clothes? Let’s turn to that page.
• What is the purpose of the captions by the photographs on pages 10
and 11?
Point out the word fur on page 11. Have students turn to the
glossary on page 16 and find the word. Read the definition together.
Some students may benefit from a discussion of the words in the
glossary prior to reading the book. You may want to read through
the words and their definitions with students and answer any
questions they may have.
Point out the index at the bottom of the page. Ask:
• What is the purpose of the index in this book?
• On what pages can I find out about homes for people?
• On what pages can I find out about clothes for people? Let’s turn to
these pages to see what we can find.
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We Are All Alike
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Set a Purpose for Reading: Chapter 1, pp. 2–5
Have students turn to page 2 and read the heading. Say: Let’s read
this chapter silently to find out some ways all people are alike. Monitor
students’ reading and provide support when necessary.
Monitor Reading Strategies
before reading • Use the cues provided to remind students that
they can apply different strategies to identify unfamiliar words.
during reading • Observe students as they read the book. Take
note of how they are problem-solving on text. Guide, or prompt,
individual students who cannot problem-solve independently.
after reading • Discuss words that gave students difficulty and
the strategies they used to work them out. Reinforce good reading
behaviors you observed by saying:
• [Student’s name], I heard you sounding out the word people. You
divided it into parts, then you sounded out each part. That’s what good
readers do.
• I noticed, [student’s name], that you looked at the pictures to confirm
the meanings of some words. That is a good strategy.
You may wish to select activities from the Skills Bank (pp. 9–10)
that will develop students’ reading strategies.
Repeat this monitoring process each time students read a new
section of the book.
Build Comprehension
ASK AND ANSWER QUESTIONS
Visual Cues
• Look at the initial letters.
•Break the word into syllables and sound out each part.
•Look for familiar chunks within the word.
•Think about what sound the vowel makes in the word.
Structure Cues
•Think about whether the words in the sentence sound right.
Meaning Cues
•Think about what makes sense in the sentence.
•Look at the pictures to
confirm the word.
Remind students that they can
use the glossary at the end of
the book to check any words
that are printed in bold type.
Prediction Chart
How I think people around
the world are alike
Before
Reading
After Reading After Reading
the Whole Book
Chapter 1
They all have
homes.
All people
need food.
They all need
a family.
All people
need clothes.
• What things did you read that all people need? (food, clothes, and
homes, p. 4) (Locate facts)
They all use
words.
All people
need homes.
• Look at your prediction charts. Is there any information about the
ways people are alike that you can add to the second column after
reading the first chapter of the book? (Answers will vary.) (Make
predictions)
They all eat
food.
Help students review their purpose for reading the chapter.
Encourage them to use information from the text and their
background experience to answer some or all of the following
questions.
• Why do you think all people need clothes? (to keep warm, dry, and
protected from the sun) (Make inferences)
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
We Are All Alike
3
Small Group Reading Lesson
(continued)
Set a Purpose for Reading: Chapter 2, pp. 6–9
Have students turn to page 6 and read the heading. Say: Let’s read
this chapter silently to find out why people need food. Monitor
students’ reading and provide support as necessary.
Build Comprehension
ASK AND ANSWER QUESTIONS
Help students review their purpose for reading the chapter.
Encourage them to use information from the text and their
background experience to answer some or all of the following
questions.
• Why do people need food? (People must eat food to live. p. 6)
(Locate facts)
• What would happen if people could not get food? (They would die of
starvation.) (Make inferences)
• What are some kinds of grains? Name grains that are mentioned in
the book as well as any other grains you know. (rice, maize, corn,
wheat, pp. 8, 9) (Locate facts/Classify and categorize)
• Why do people in different parts of the world eat different kinds of
foods? (Different parts have different climates. People eat what
grows where they live.) (Summarize information)
Day 2
Review Chapters 1 and 2
Have students review what they previously read about how people
are alike. Ask:
• What can you tell me about how people are alike?
• What did you learn about why people need food?
• What are some new words you learned from your reading so far?
4
We Are All Alike
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Set a Purpose for Reading:
Chapters 3–4, pp. 10–15
Have students turn to pages 10 and 13 to read the chapter
headings. Say: Let’s read these chapters silently to learn why people
need clothes and homes. Monitor students’ reading and provide
support as necessary.
Build Comprehension
ASK AND ANSWER QUESTIONS
Engage students in a discussion about the text. Encourage them
to ask questions about what they read. Model how to use the
information from the text and their background experience to
answer questions. Ask:
• What did you learn from these chapters about why people need
clothes and homes? (They need clothes and homes to protect
them from the weather. Their clothes and homes are affected by
the places where they live.) (Summarize information)
• How are people’s clothes different in hot lands than in cold lands?
Why are they different? (In hot places people wear loose, lightcolored clothes to stay cool. In cold places they wear fur to stay
warm.) (Compare and contrast)
• Why do some people make houses of grass? (It is what they have
around them to build with. It works well to keep out the sun
and rain.) (Identify cause and effect)
• Why do you think people who live in a city do not usually build a
house of grass or wood? (Answers will vary. One possible answer:
These materials are not close by, and since buildings are very
tall, they have to be made of metal, stone, or concrete to keep
them from falling.) (Make inferences)
Teacher Tip
Question Types
Students need to understand
that they can use information
from various places in the book,
as well as background
knowledge, to answer different
types of questions. These
lessons provide four types of
questions, designed to give
students practice in
understanding the relationship
between a question and the
source of its answer.
• Questions that require
students to go to a specific place in the text.
• Questions that require
students to integrate
information from several
sentences, paragraphs, or chapters within the book.
• Questions that require
students to combine back-
ground knowledge with
information from the book.
• Questions that relate to the book topic but require
students to use only back-
ground knowledge and
experience, not information from the book.
We Are All Alike
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
5
Small Group Reading Lesson
(continued)
Build Comprehension: Chapters 1–4
Prediction Chart
How I think people around
the world are alike
Before
Reading
After Reading After Reading
the Whole Book
Chapter 1
They all have
homes.
All people
need food.
All people need
food.
They all need
a family.
All people
need clothes.
All people need
clothes. People
wear clothes to
live. Clothes
keep them cool
in a hot place
and warm in a
cold place.
They all use
words.
All people
need homes.
They all eat
food.
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We Are All Alike
All people need
homes. Homes
protect people
from weather.
People build
homes that fit
where they live.
ASK AND ANSWER QUESTIONS
• What can you write in the third column of your prediction charts
after reading the whole book? (Answers will vary.) (Locate facts)
• How do you think people choose the materials to build their homes?
(Answers may vary. One possible answer: They use materials that
are available or that will protect them from the climate where
they live.) (Draw conclusions)
• Is the following statement a fact or an opinion? “Wood houses are
best.” Tell how you know. (opinion; it expresses a belief; it cannot
be proved.) (Evaluate fact and opinion)
• What would you like about having a friend from a faraway country?
(Answers will vary.) (Use creative thinking)
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
Model Discuss the concept of comparing and contrasting two
things with students and explain why doing this is useful. Model
how to pick out the details to compare from the book. Copy the
Venn diagram on the board and show students how to record the
information in the appropriate places. Say:
This book tells about how people around the world are alike and
different. One way to show how two things are alike and different is
to write details about both on a Venn diagram. I will use this Venn
diagram to compare and contrast the foods people eat in different
places.
First I label the left circle “Foods People Eat in Cool Places” and the
right circle “Foods People Eat in Warm Places.” Then I label the
middle part “Foods People Eat in Both Places.” I will write details
that tell only about foods people eat in cool places in the left circle. I
will write details that tell only about foods people eat in warm places
in the right circle. Details that tell about foods people eat in both
places go in the middle section. Let’s think about how foods are the
same in both places. The book says that people in both places eat
vegetables, fruits, and grains. In addition, in both places, people eat
foods that grow well on their land. So I write those details in the
middle section. How are foods different in these places? The book
says that in cool places, people eat such foods as apples and beets,
and in warm, sunny places they eat such foods as bananas, peppers,
and corn. These foods grow well in those places. I’ll write “foods that
grow well in cool places—apples and beets” in the left circle and
“foods that grow well in warm places—bananas and peppers” in the
right circle. Now you choose two things to compare and contrast.
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Practice and Apply Distribute copies of the graphic organizer to
students. Suggest that they compare the clothes worn by people in
different places or the homes built by people in different places.
Guide students as they look for ways the clothes or homes are alike
and different in the two places. Provide assistance as needed as
students write the similarities and differences in the appropriate
places in the diagram.
Compare and Contrast
Foods People Eat
in Cool Places
Foods People Eat
in Both Places
foods that grow
well in cool places—apples and
beets
vegetables, fruits,
and grains
foods that grow
well on their land
Foods People Eat
in Warm Places
foods that grow
well in warm places—bananas and
peppers
Teacher Tip
Monitoring
Comprehension
• Are students are able to
revisit the text to locate
specific answers to textdependent questions? If they
are having difficulty, show
them how to match the
wording of the question to
the wording in the text.
• Are students able to find
answers to questions that
require a search of the text?
If they are having difficulty,
model how you would search
for the answer.
• Can students combine their
background knowledge with
information from the text to
make inferences? If they are
having difficulty, model
how you would answer the
question.
• Are students’ answers to
creative questions logical and
relevant to the topic?
• Do students’ completed
graphic organizers reflect the
ability to compare and
contrast two topics and
organize the similarities and
differences on a diagram? If
students are having difficulty,
provide more modeling and
guided practice in this skill.
We Are All Alike
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
7
Small Group Reading Lesson
(continued)
Small Group Writing
MODEL THE WRITING
Cats
Cats and Dogs
Dogs
purr
give themselves
a bath
chase string
pets, live with
people
fur, four legs, tail
like to be petted
have litters
wag tail
need a bath
fetch a stick
Show students how they can use the graphic organizer to help them
plan their own writing. Once again, copy the graphic organizer on
the board. Help students choose two familiar things that they can
compare and contrast, such as cats and dogs. Tell students they
need to think about how cats and dogs are alike and different.
Record their suggestions in the appropriate places in the Venn
diagram, or have them tell you where to record their ideas.
Tell students they now have a plan for writing: They know how cats
and dogs are similar and different. Working on the first paragraph,
have students suggest sentences that expand on the similarities
listed on their graphic organizer. Record their suggestions.
Read aloud the completed paragraph and ask students if they need
to clarify any information. Show them how to edit the paragraph.
Then work on the next paragraph using the listed differences. The
completed writing might be similar to the following:
“Cats and dogs have a lot in common. Both are pets and live with
people. Both have fur, four legs, and a tail. Like dogs, cats like to
be petted. They are also alike in their families. Both dogs and cats
have a bunch of babies called a litter.
Reread for Fluency
You may wish to read sections
of the book aloud to students
to model fluent reading of the
text. Model using appropriate
phrasing, intonation,
expression, volume, and rate as
you read. Some students may
benefit from listening to you
read a portion of the text and
then reading it back to you.
Have students reread We Are
All Alike with a partner. Have
them read the text together
and then take turns reading it
to each other.
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“However, cats and dogs are different in many ways, too. Cats
purr to show they are happy, but dogs wag their tails. People have
to give dogs a bath. By contrast, cats give themselves a bath. They
also play in different ways. A cat likes to chase a string. A dog
likes to fetch a stick.”
Apply (Independent Writing)
Give each student a blank copy of the graphic organizer. Tell
students they are to write paragraphs comparing and contrasting
two things they know about, such as crayons and markers or
breakfast and lunch. They should use the graphic organizer to
summarize and organize ways their topics are alike and different.
Connect to Home
Have students read the take-home version of We Are All Alike to
family members.
We Are All Alike
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Skills Bank: Decoding
Phonics: r-controlled vowels
Write the words different and warm on the board. Say the words
with students. Circle the er in different and the ar in warm. Explain
that when a vowel is followed by the letter r, its sound is neither
short nor long; the r changes the sound. Have students say different
and warm again, listening to the r-controlled vowel sounds. Then
say each of the following words from the book and ask students
whether the word has the same r-controlled vowel sound as in
different or in warm: peppers, fur, corn, layer, world, forest, color.
Write each word in the appropriate column. Circle the ur in fur, the
or in corn, and the or in world. Point out that these words show
several ways these two r-controlled sounds can be spelled. The
letters er, ur, and or can spell the /ûr/ sound, and the letters ar and
or can spell the /ôr/ sound.
different warm
peppers corn
fur
forest
layer
world
color
Have pairs of students look through familiar books to find other
words with the /ûr/ and /ôr/ sounds, such as letter, dinner, hurt,
burn, worm, work, actor, porch, torn, storm, order, warn, and
swarm. Have partners write their words on their papers and circle
the letters that make the r-controlled vowel sounds. Bring the pairs
together and have them say their words and write them in the
appropriate columns on the board.
Phonics: Syllabication
Write the words all, alike, and different on the board and have
students read the words aloud with you, clapping once for each
syllable. Remind students that a syllable is a part of a word that has
a vowel sound, so a word has as many syllables as it has vowel
sounds. Ask students to tell how many syllables all, alike, and
different have. (one, two, three)
Tell students that they are going to play a syllable game. Set a time
limit of 10 minutes. Pairs of students are to look through the book
for words that have one, two, three, and four syllables: you, people,
bananas, vegetables. They are to write each word and its number
on syllables on their papers: you, 1; people, 2; bananas, 3;
vegetables, 4. When time is up, students count the number of
syllables on their papers. They get one point for each syllable. The
pair with the most points wins the game.
We Are All Alike
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
9
Skills Bank: Decoding
(continued)
Content Vocabulary: Common needs of people
Have students look at their prediction charts and find words that
name needs all people share. Ask them to brainstorm additional
words. Record these on the board. The list may include food,
clothes, homes, shelter, water, love, families, safety, medicine, and
air. Read the words with students. Then have them each choose a
word and draw a picture that illustrates their word. Ask them to
write a sentence to go with their pictures.
Grammar/Word Study: Describing words
Have students turn to page 6 and read the third sentence aloud.
Point to the word cool and explain that this is a describing word,
or adjective. Tell students that adjectives tell about, or describe,
nouns. Ask them what noun cool is describing. (places) Point out
that cool answers the question What kind? about the noun places:
What kind of places? Cool places. Explain that adjectives may also
answer the questions Which one? How much? or How many?
Have students look through the book and find other adjectives: for
example, different, same, (which one); some, (how much); warm,
wet, sunny, hot, long, light, loose, cold, tall, and big (what kind).
Ask students to read aloud sentences in which the adjectives appear.
Then help them identify the noun each adjective is describing and
the question the adjective is answering about the noun. Ask
volunteers to use each adjective in an oral sentence of their own.
different people long clothes
same things
light color
some ways
loose clothes
warm places
cold lands
wet places
tall grass
sunny places
big cities
hot lands
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC. All rights reserved. Teachers may photocopy the reproducible pages for classroom use. No other part of the guide may be reproduced or transmitted in whole or
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in part in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
ISBN# 978-1-4108-0181-4
Name _______________________________________________________ Date ___________________
Vocabulary Prediction Chart
How I think people around the world are alike
Before Reading
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
After Reading Chapter 1
After Reading
the Whole Book
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Compare and Contrast
Name __________________________________________________________________________________ Date __________________