Help with teaching "same/different"

[puffballpopple]

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[Shining Light]

Hi Amanda,

I'm just curious - - how old is your dd? I'll be up front - my motto for most early childhood learning (under normal circumstances) is "Just back off and give 'em time." My dd turned 4 in February and I've found that there are lots of things she understands in normal conversation or with hands-on experiences but in the context of a workbook, she doesn't make the connection. If you find that you or your dd are getting frustrated then you are doing the right thing by putting the workbook away. The only thing I might add is that I would try to avoid even getting to point of frustration by either putting the book away sooner or by just distracting her with a different problem. IMO, it's ok if sometimes you just tell her an answer and move on without focusing on why that is the answer (if you know it would cause frustration). Or you could even just skip some of the problems that you think might cause frustration.

Have you tried talking to her about the concepts of same and different in real-life? For example, when you are driving down the road you could talk about the cars, trucks, etc.and just point out various things that focus on the concept. Don't over-do it. If she isn't interested or gets frustrated then move on to something else. You could do the same type of things with toys, clothes, animals, etc. For a while you may find that you are doing most of the commenting about what is same/different but I'd be willing to bet that it won't be long before your daughter catches on to the "game." You should also try to think of various ways that you could make comments along with simple explanation. For example, instead of just saying, "Oh, look, that car is different from the other car" you might say "Oh, look at those two different cars; one is black and the other is red" or "I see a car and a truck. They're different."

TBH, I probably wouldn't worry if your dd is able to understand the concept IRL but not in a workbook. That will come later.

Another thing I just thought of is a Montessori approach (I think). A friend of mine told me about teaching things with kind of a 3-step progression. Working with same/different it would look something like this:
Set out 3 objects (2 the same and 1 different from the first 2)
Tell dd what each of the objects is ("This is an apple. This is an apple. This is an orange.")
Step one: Tell her what is same and different. (Ex.- "The apples are the same. The orange is different."
Step two: Ask her to show you. (Ex. "Show me which are the same. Show me which are different.") She could just point at them without saying a word or you could have her say it while pointing.
Step three: You point and say "What is this?" (For this particular concept you might actually want to change the question to "Are these same or different?"

The first time I heard about these three steps it was kind of a revelation to me. The ability to do step 2 vs. step 3 takes a different level of understanding and thinking. To me it was so simple that it all melds together but for children, it is very likely that they could do one step but not the other. If at any point she becomes disinterested or frustrated, stop :) It's not worth the frustration.

I hope this helps.

[PrincessMommie]

This is what we did, when ds was an early 3 and didn't grasp it his beloved workbooks :rolleyes (this child LOVES workbooks, mom hates them lol)

Use real life objects such as a coffee cup and a drinking glass.
They are the same in that they are both cups, yet they are different because one is tall and fancy and the other is short with a handle.

A dinner plate and a saucer, both are plates so they are the same, yet they are different because the dinner plate is larger and holds lots of food and the saucer is small and use it for dessert or tea cups.

A marker and a pencil, are the same because we can write and draw with them, but are different because the marker is colorful and draws wide, while the pencil is gray, and draws a thin line.

Shampoo and soap, are the same because we use both in the tub and they are both for cleaning us. but are different because shampoo is in a bottle and is for our hair, where soap is a bar and for our body.

etc, etc.....this really helped around here.

The reason it is so much harder in workbook format is that they don't have the perception skills yet quite at this age to 'see' the difference in those drawing etc..you'll probably notice that she DOES catch on more with tangible objects though. ;)

[Mama Bird]

Well, my son is 2, almost 3. I was working with him on matching the same items. What we did was this: (I got it from Slow and Steady...)

We went into the backyard and gathered leaves that we thought were pretty. We chose two of each leaf. (Two rose leaves, two ivy leaves, etc.) I then put each leaf between waxed paper and, with a cloth between the paper/leaf sandwich and the iron, "laminated" the leaves. I then cut them to roughly the same size, and spread them around on the floor next to us. I would pick up one leaf, and have him find the one that looked the same. The first few times, he didn't get it. After showing him a few times, he got it, though. He wanted to play that game quite often in the past few days!

How 'bout something concrete like that? :think

[righteous mama]

If she still wants to do the worksheet, then discuss what makes the same objects the same and what makes the different objects different. I've found that even now that my daughter is 5.5 I need to almost give her the answers. I give them to her with discussion as to why that is the answer. Soon enough she is getting it on her own.

[puffballpopple]

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