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Colonial SchoolsLook around yourclassroom. What do yousee? Desks? Textbooks?Computers? How do youthink your classroom mightcompare to a classroom inthe 1600s and 1700s?

A good way to learn aboutpeople, places, and things is tocompare them to something youknow. When you make a

you tell how twoor more things are alike.

Read the following passage.Can you tell how colonial andcurrent textbooks compare?

comparison,

In classrooms today, you’llfind textbooks with manypages and pictures. Colonialschoolrooms had a kind oftextbook called a hornbook. A hornbook was a paddle-shaped board with a sheet of paper on it. The paperusually had the alphabet,numerals, and prayerswritten on it.

Skill 23HOW TO.Write a Comparison

Hornbook

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3 Write About theCommon Features

Before writing your comparison,you can make a Venn diagramlike the one below to help youfind common features. Beginyour comparison with a topicsentence that tells what twotopics you are comparing. Thenuse your list of common featuresto make sentences that tell howthe two topics are alike.

1 Pick the Topics

Choose two topics you want to compare.

2 List Features

Write down features, or details,about each of the topics you are comparing. Then find thefeatures that both topics have in common.

STEPS IN Writing a Comparison

Use these steps to write a comparison.

Cardboardcover

Colonialtextbook

Textbooktoday

Many pictures

Lots of pages

Hornbook

AlphabetUsed as

teaching toolSheets of

paper

Numerals

Paddle-shapedboard

One sheet ofpaper

Common featuresFeaturesof topic 1

Featuresof topic 2

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School in Colonial America

Aschool day in colonial times started in the morning.Most students spent the day studying reading, writing,

simple math, and prayers. Some wealthier schools alsotaught foreign languages, higher math, science, and socialmanners. Students used hornbooks to learn the alphabet,numbers, and prayers. They recited most lessons. Mostcolonial schools had only one room for students of all ages to share. Many schools were for either boys or girls.Only a few let boys and girls go to class together.

EXAMPLE OF Writing a Comparison

As you read the story below, think about how a colonialclassroom is like your own.

Common features

Topic 1Topicsentence

Topic 2

Comparing School Days

Some things about my school day and a

colonial school day are the same. Both

school days start in the morning. Reading,

writing, math, and science are studied in

both schools. Numbers and the alphabet

are learned by students in both schools.

Each school also has books that the

students use to study their lessons.

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USE THIS SKILL.Write a ComparisonWrite a comparison of the two classrooms shown in thetwo pictures below.

A classroom todayColonial classroom

TESTTIP

When you are asked to make comparisons on atest, think about how things are similar. Be sureto check each answer against the information inthe reading passage.