My Beak, Your Beak

Talking about same and difference is something that we start doing at a very young age.  We want kindergartners coming to school knowing how to compare and contrast different people, characters, numbers and so much more.  I have come across a book that would be great to use when teaching same and different to kindergarten or younger It is called My Beak, Your Beak by Melanie Walsh.  

The pictures and the words are simple enough that they can be used for talking about same and difference.  For example, "Lions are big and have hairy manes.  Kittens are small and fluffy but... they both have scratchy claws." At the same time most of the animals are familiar so the children could also infer and use background knowledge to come up with their own similarities and differences.

This book would be great for introducing Venn Diagrams.  Read the first few pages of the book for enjoyment and then have several different Venn Diagrams already drawn on chart paper.  Model for them at first how to label a Venn Diagram and then how to complete it.  By the end of the book you can have students dictate the label to you or come up to label the Venn Diagram themselves!  Below is what one might look like.

If its not enough that we have My Beak, Your Beak Melanie Walsh also has My Nose, Your Nose which follows the same text pattern!

Do you know of any good books for teaching same and different to younger children?

Happy Reading!

Laura