Differentiate Reading with Nonfiction Paired Passages

What is the best way to differentiate reading? Experts have many opinions on the subject, but one truth holds clear – students need accessible materials and lots of practice. Differentiated texts are your best bet to reach learners of different abilities. This grouping of materials has students comparing and contrasting the games of soccer and American football.

The differentiated resources offered in this downloadable resource come in two levels – on and below level. Each set of paired passages is accompanied by a compare and contrast cut and sort activity and a structured writing template for producing a compare and contrast paragraph.

This set of Soccer vs. American Football resources focuses on the following skills:

• Comparing and Contrasting Soccer vs. American Football (Passages)
• Identifying facts and details 
• Organizing and recording information (Cut and Sort Table)
• Writing an Informative paragraph (Sentence Frames Provided)

An answer key is included with your download to make grading fast and easy!  

Tips for Differentiation + Scaffolding 

In addition to independent student work time, use this worksheet as an activity for:

• Guided reading groups
• Lesson warm-up
• Lesson wrap-up
• Fast finishers 
• Homework assignment
• Whole-class review (via smartboard)

Easily Download & Print

Use the dropdown icon on the Download button to download the PDF version of this resource. 

Because this resource includes an answer sheet, we recommend you print one copy of the entire file. Then, make photocopies of the blank worksheet for students to complete. 

Additionally, project the worksheet onto a screen and work through it as a class by having students record their answers in their notebooks.

Get more worksheets to have handy!

This resource was created by Kirstin Sowers, a teacher in Illinois and Teach Starter Collaborator. 

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