This document provides a research-based lesson planning guide for teaching compare and contrast skills to middle school students. It includes 5 days of lesson plans focusing on compare and contrast through explicit instruction, modeled instruction, guided practice and independent practice. Students will analyze similarities and differences between the lives of Milton Hershey and Forrest Mars using graphic organizers and signal words. Formative and summative assessments are built into the lessons to check student understanding of comparing and contrasting information.