Celebrate Connections!
I love guiding students to make connections! They so naturally desire to understand the world around them by linking it to things they know. Prior knowledge and experience is one of the most important things to harness as a teacher for a successful lesson! Most students though know how to look at a book about a birthday party and tell you about every birthday they have ever had, but we need to teach them to make intentional connections to deepen their understanding of text!
I have a FREE resource to help you do that!! Click the picture below to download!
During my shared reading time, I use Comprehension Crew characters to model reading strategies for my students. Then we read interactively as they practice implementing the strategies themselves. Read more about that below!
Connor The Connector
Connor The Connector is a train conductor that is excellent at connecting one location to another destination! He loves to teach students how to do this too! An important part of Connor’s method is while he reads, he is always thinking of other books he has read, things he has experienced, and his background knowledge to see if anything connects. Connor also provides readers with strategies and confidence for making text to self, text to text, and text to world connections throughout a text to enhance their understanding. Download this resource for FREE to try it!
What is the Comprehension Crew?
Comprehension Crew is a group of characters each representing an essential reading skill. Each character has a profession, song, gesture, and prop that provide a concrete representation of the reading skill. These characters are used to model and reinforce each skill both in life and in text. The character helps students to understand, remember, and intentionally apply skills as they are reading.
Things You Can Connect To Self:
- experiences
- names
- likes/ dislikes
- clothes
- family set up
- attitudes towards specific things
- objects the character owns or sees
Examples of text to text connections:
- characters’ experiences
- characters’ feelings
- characters’ thoughts
- settings
- time period
- goal of an action
- specific phrases
- family dynamics
Text to World Connections examples:
- alignment with a news story
- recognition of a specific culture
- representation of of universal viewpoint
- known information about the setting location
Practicing with Pictures
In my Connor The Connector resource pack, there are task cards for students to practice connecting. There are photograph task cards and short paragraphs on cards to practice. The photographs were intentionally chosen because students should be somewhat familiar with each experience to be able to make connections. It is important for students to practice connecting on a small scale to gain understanding and confidence in the skill. Often an entire text can be overwhelming, especially for younger students! Differentiated passages on worksheets with scaffolded graphic organizers and questions are also included to help your students break down how to make a connection!
Click here to see the mentor texts I use to make connections.
