Making Connections While Reading

Essential Question

• How can I make connections while reading?

Concept of Connections

• Connections are like puzzle pieces that fit together to create a picture.
• Helps to better understand what we're reading.

Types of Connections

1. Text to Self

   • Relating the text to personal experiences.
   • Questions to ask:
     • Where have I seen this before in my own life?
     • What does this remind me of?
   • Example:
     • The Recess Queen:
       • Connection: A mean girl on the playground in second grade.
       • "When I read about Mean Gene being mean, it reminded me of my experience with a mean girl who pulled my hair."
     • What Do You Do With a Problem?:
       • Connection: A fort destroyed by a storm.
       • "This book reminded me of when my fort got destroyed and how I fixed it, similar to the boy in the story."

2. Text to Text

   • Connecting the text to another text that has been read before.
   • Example:
     • What Do You Do With a Problem? and The Most Magnificent Thing:
       • Connection: Both characters face challenges and persist until they succeed.
       • "When the boy was afraid in one story, it reminded me of the girl from the other story who kept trying until she succeeded."

3. Text to World

   • Connecting the text to real-world events or situations.
   • Example:
     • The Lorax:
       • Connection: Cutting down of Truffula trees and deforestation in the Amazon.
       • "When reading about the trees getting cut down in the Lorax, it made me think about the real-life deforestation happening in the Amazon rainforest."

Conclusion

• Three Ways to Make Connections:
  1. Text to Self
  2. Text to Text
  3. Text to World
• Encouragement: All readers should go out and make connections!