Reading is more than just decoding words and understanding sentences. It’s about making connections that deepen comprehension and foster a love for literature. As elementary teachers, we have the unique opportunity to guide our young readers in making these connections. I’m sharing essential resources and teaching tips that will help your students when making connections to reading.
How to Teach Making Connections
Making connections to reading enhances comprehension and engagement with the text. Start by modeling the process for students by sharing your own connections as you read. Encourage students to think about how the story relates to their own lives. Introduce the types of connections we can make (text-to-self, text-to-text, text-to-world, text-to-media) and explain how these connections help us deepen our understanding of the text. Provide students with opportunities to discuss their connections with peers and practice making connections during their independent reading.
Making Connections Tools
When teaching comprehension reading strategies, such as making connections, there are some essential tools we always need. These tools assist when modeling how to implement the strategy and scaffold students as they practice applying it.
These teaching materials include mentor texts, anchor charts, and graphic organizers.
Books for Making Connections
Using mentor texts is an excellent way to model making connections to reading. Choose books that are rich in themes, have relatable characters, or are connected to real-world events. Check out some of my favorite books for making connections.
Making Connections Anchor Chart
Anchor Charts are an essential tool for introducing a new reading strategy. Displaying an anchor chart during your minilesson helps keep your instruction focused. It can also serve as a visual reminder of the reading strategy during small group instruction, literacy centers, and independent reading.
Create an anchor chart with the three main types of connections (text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world) and include examples. Refer to this chart often during reading lessons to remind students of the connections they can make to deepen their comprehension of the text.
Some information you might include on your Making Connections Poster:
- A “Good Readers Can…” statement using kid-friendly language to explain the strategy
- Tell what it means to make connections
- Thinking stems such as “This reminds me of…”
- Visual cues for each type of connection
Teacher Prompts
When planning your making connections reading strategy lesson plans, it is helpful to record specific prompts you want to use. These can be applied to any text during whole-group or small-group lessons.
It can be helpful to keep a strategy cheat sheet with making connections prompts that you can use with any text. I like to keep a list of them at my small group table to use during our lessons.
Sentence Stems for Students
Be sure to provide students with sentence stems to help them make connections to their reading. These sentence frames are especially valuable to primary students and English Language Learners who may not yet have the language to fully express their thinking. It can be helpful to post them in a place where students can easily refer to them to guide their discussions and written responses.
Making Connections Graphic Organizer
Graphic organizers can help students organize their thoughts and make their connections more clear. Here are a few examples of graphic organizers students can use to record their connections:
- Connection Webs: Students can draw connections from the central text to their own experiences, other texts, and world events.
- Venn Diagrams: Compare and contrast characters or events from different texts.
- T-Charts: List connections on one side and evidence from the text on the other.
Students can complete a graphic organizer to practice making connections to reading during small groups or independent reading.
Save time by creating a Reading Graphic Organizers file box to keep at your small group table. That way you always have copies ready for students to practice the skill!
Readers’ Notebook Page and Study Guide
A readers’ notebook page can remind students of the strategy, graphic organizer, and sentence stems to use when independently making connections to reading.
Print a copy that they can use for additional practice at home.
Making Connections Bookmark
Another option is for students to keep a Reading Bookmark in their book boxes to remind them how to make connections as they read independently.
Teacher Tips for Making Connections
Model the Process: Show your students how you make connections when you read. Think aloud as you read a story, pointing out when something reminds you of your own experiences, another book, or a real-world event.
Create a Welcoming Environment: Ensure your classroom is a place where students feel safe to share their thoughts and connections. Celebrate all connections, big and small.
Encourage Discussions: Pair students up or create small groups for discussion. This not only helps them hear different perspectives but also allows them to practice articulating their connections.
Build Background Knowledge: Elementary students may not have enough personal experiences or knowledge about the world to draw meaningful connections to the text. Introduce students to diverse texts to build up their background knowledge.
Maintain Focus: Students love sharing personal stories and their background knowledge. But make sure they are connecting it back to the text and using their connection to deepen their comprehension – rather than getting distracted by it.
Expand Thinking: When students share their connection encourage them to elaborate rather than just stating their connection. “This reminds me of ___ because ___.”
Making Connections Activities
While these tools are all scaffolds for students as they practice making connections to reading, you may be looking for more specific activities to teach the skill. Be sure to check out the corresponding post with activities for Making Connections in Reading that your students will love!
What other tools have you found beneficial for teaching students to make connections?
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