Do you like to go outside? Then you might be a dog person. Dogs need to go on walks. They go to the bathroom outside. They run and play. Ruff, ruff!
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Shutterstock.com (All Images); Tierfotoagentur/Alamy Stock Photo (Sniffing); Shutterstock.com (All Other Images); RuslanDashinsky/Getty Images (Cuddle); Svetlana Lazarenka/Alamy Stock Photo (Cat on Ball); Juniors Bildarchiv GmbH/Alamy Stock Photo (Black Cat)
Bark or Meow?
Are you a dog person or a cat person?
By Laine Falk
From the February 2025 Issue
Learning Objective: Students will compare and contrast dogs and cats and decide which pet they prefer.
Are You a Dog Person?
Dogs Get You Outside
Dog Tricks
Sit. Stay. Fetch. These are commands that you can teach dogs. They can understand what you tell them to do. Go, dogs!
Super Sniffers
Sniff, sniff. Dogs have a much better sense of smell than humans. They can smell things from miles away.
Bark if you are a dog person!
Are You a Cat Person?
Cats Cuddle Inside
Do you like to stay inside and cuddle? Then you might be a cat person. Most pet cats stay inside. They go to the bathroom in litter boxes. Meow!
Cat Tricks
Did you know that cats can learn tricks too? People train them to roll over, jump, or give a high five. Go, cats!
Super Sight
At night, it can be hard for us to see. But it’s not hard for cats. They can see well in the dark.
Meow if you are a cat person!
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Activities
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Skills Activities
Answer Key
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More About the Article
English Language Arts Focus
Compare and contrast
Science Focus
Animal behavior
Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
Implementation
- Whole group
Pairings and Text Connections
- In this issue: “Poetry Kit: My Dog and Cat”
- From the Storyworks 1 archive: “What Do You Think: Robot Dog, a Good Pet or Not?” (March/April 2023)
- Suggested books: Can I Be Your Dog? by Troy Cummings; They All Saw a Cat by Brendan Wenzel
Before-Reading Resources
- Vocabulary slideshow (5 minutes) command, sense, train
- Video: Skill Power: Compare and Contrast (5 minutes) A fun how-to video on how and why we compare and contrast
Suggested Reading Focus
Compare and contrast (20 minutes)
- Tell students they will be reading texts about dogs and cats. As they read, they should think about how the two pets are alike and different.
- Preview the parallel structure of the texts. What do children notice about these two pages? (They are set up similarly. Each section has a heading. All the headings are the same.)
- Read “Are You a Dog Person?,” stopping at the end of each section to check comprehension. Do the same for “Are You a Cat Person?”
- Next, read the texts under the same headings back-to-back so students can focus on comparing and contrasting. Then discuss what they learned from the section.
- Compare the photos. What do children learn from them?
- To finish, have students turn and talk to a partner about ways dogs and cats are alike and different. You can also have a vote to see whether there are more dog or cat people in the class!
After-Reading Skills Practice
- Skills: Opinion writing; Compare/contrast (15 minutes each)
Text-to-Speech