Kindergarten · English Language Arts · Parent guide
Short answer. RL.K.9 asks kindergarteners to compare characters from familiar stories, how their adventures are alike and different. Plus 3 easy home activities.
Quick answer
With adult support, your kindergartener can compare and contrast what happens to characters in stories he knows well. Think "Both Goldilocks and Little Red Riding Hood went into a house that wasn't theirs, but one met bears and one met a wolf." He's noticing that characters' adventures can be alike in some ways and different in others, and he can say how.
Why parents see this skill
Comparing is one of the first genuinely analytical things a young brain does with stories, a step past just remembering them. It's the same mental move behind compare-and-contrast essays years from now, and it deepens how much he gets out of every story because each new book connects to the last one.
For reference
With prompting and support, compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in familiar stories.Official Common Core source
See it, then try it
You do not need a lesson plan. Look for these signs in ordinary play, reading, and conversation, then choose one short activity.
After reading two familiar books, hold up your left hand for "same" and right for "different." Ask your child to give you one thing for each hand about the two main characters. One same, one different, done. It works in the car with stories from memory too.
Ask your child: if the Three Little Pigs and Goldilocks came to dinner, what would they talk about? What happened to both of them? (Uninvited guests and houses, for starters.) Silly conversations like this are compare-and-contrast wearing a costume.
Pick two stories where characters face a similar problem, like being lost or meeting someone tricky. Ask how each character handled it and who had the better idea. Letting him judge the characters' choices pushes the comparison one satisfying step further.
Choose what helps today
Start with the domain guide for context, use the learning library when a concept needs explaining, or print a page when your child is ready to practice.
See every RL.K skill in order and how the codes fit together.
Open resourceFilter free pages by literacy, phonics, handwriting, and comprehension skills.
Open resourceShort, repeatable reading activities for common early words.
Open resourceSimple reading and vocabulary ideas for home and classroom routines.
Open resourceWhy does the numbering skip RL.K.8?
It's not a typo on the report card. RL.8 in every grade deals with reasons and arguments in a text, which doesn't apply to literature the way it does to informational text, so the literature strand marks it not applicable. Kindergarten literature simply goes from RL.K.7 to RL.K.9.
My son can retell each story fine but freezes when asked to compare two. Is that normal?
Very. Comparing asks him to hold two stories in mind at once, which is a real working-memory lift for a 5 year old. Make it concrete: put both books on the table, open to pictures of both characters, and ask one narrow question, like "Did they both go into the woods?" Side-by-side beats from-memory every time.
Keep the sequence
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