CurriculumGrade 8English Language Arts

Connections & Distinctions

Aligned to RI.8.3 — Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.

What this lesson teaches

Authors link and separate ideas using comparisons, analogies, and categories. Notice how a text groups events or contrasts individuals to make a point clearer.

Worked example

An article compares a virus spreading to a rumor moving through a school, an analogy that clarifies the abstract idea of contagion by tying it to something familiar.

Practice questions

  1. Find where a text compares two ideas or events.
  2. Explain what an analogy helps the reader understand.
  3. Identify a category the author uses to group examples.

Watch the lesson

Every lesson comes with a video taught in English and Spanish — the same video the QR code in the printed workbook opens.

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En español

Conexiones y Distinciones

Los autores enlazan y separan ideas mediante comparaciones, analogías y categorías. Observa cómo un texto agrupa sucesos o contrasta individuos para aclarar un punto.

Ejemplo: Un artículo compara la propagación de un virus con un rumor que recorre una escuela; esa analogía aclara la idea abstracta del contagio al ligarla con algo conocido.

More Reading: Informational lessons

Evaluating Soundness of ReasoningRI.8.8Evidence in NonfictionRI.8.1Central Idea & Objective SummaryRI.8.2Technical & Connotative WordsRI.8.4How a Paragraph Is BuiltRI.8.5Author's Purpose & CounterviewsRI.8.6

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