Jennifer Flot
Instructional Project
REED 663
Making Connections
Teaching Students to Make Connections
Many strategies can be used to help readers comprehend text, but the schema
theory suggest that the basis for all reading comprehension is the connection a reader
makes between their prior knowledge and the text being read. We use our schema or
background knowledge in order to construct meaning from all new information.
Because making connections is believed to be the basis for reading comprehension it is
vital for teachers to explicitly teach students how to make meaningful connections.
Connections can be made from text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world. Text-to-self
connections refer to the connections between the experiences in a person’s life and the
text. Text-to-text is the connecting of story structure, grammar, themes and main ideas
across texts. The text-to-world connection is the connection of real-world issues with
the text such as homelessness, poverty and prejudice.
This instructional project focused on teaching a class of 17 kindergarten students
to make self-to-text connections. Three lessons were taught using the gradual release
of responsibility model in order to help students begin to make connections
independently. A fourth lesson was taught to introduce students to the strategy of
making text-to-text connections. I chose to teach students to make self-to-text
connections first because thinking about and talking about their own experiences in
relationship to the text comes naturally to students. While text-to-text and text-to
world connections are more complex.
Using the Gradual Release of
Responsibility
Lesson 1
• I began by helping students to understand that a self-to-text
connections is when something I read reminds me of something in
my prior knowledge (the students have already been taught the
term prior knowledge).
• Next, I modeled making self-to-text connections while reading The
Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant. I modeled by pausing and using
think alouds during reading.
• Last, I showed a chart that listed my connections and ask the
students if they had any connections to add. While one student
made a meaningful connection, most of the students were
distracted by the smaller details of the story. They clearly needed
the guided instruction that was planned for lesson 2.
Lesson 2
• This lesson used the text The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. Before
the text was read I ask the students to close their eyes and picture a
time that they played in the snow. This began to activate their prior
knowledge.
• The students were given a small dry erase board with three large
sticky notes stuck to the back. They used the sticky notes to record
their self-to-text connections as we read the story.
• Each time that I stopped reading I modeled one of my connections.
Then, the students drew and wrote their connections. I walked
around and discussed the connections that they were making each
time to help guide their thinking.
Lesson 3
• This lesson used the text When Sophie Gets Angry-Really, Really
Angry… by Molly Bang.
• During the read aloud time the students used the “r” hand sign to
show when the story reminded them of a connection.
• After the reading the students wrote and drew a self-to-text
connection in their journals.
Lesson 4
• This lesson moved on to introduce the concept of text-to-text
connections.
• We created a Venn Diagram to show the connections between
Oliver Button is a Sissy and Amazing Grace.
• The students thought of many connections, but still need more
instruction on this concept.
Lesson Details…
Lesson 1
Objective: To introduce the concept of text-toself connections.
The lesson began by talking to the students about their prior knowledge.
They have learned this term in previous lessons. They brainstormed and
discussed things that they have prior knowledge about. I then told the
class that self-to-text connections means that a book reminds you of your
prior knowledge. I introduced the book The Relatives Came. I explained
that this book reminded me of my Thanksgiving because so many relatives
came to my house. As I read the text aloud to the class I used think alouds
to model my own connections. The lesson was concluded by reviewing my
previously stated connections that were displayed on the interactive white
board, and then allowing the students to share their thoughts. I added
the students’ first attempts at making connections to the list. The list is
seen on the following slide.
Lesson 2
Objective: Students will write and draw to
record their self to text connections.
In this lesson I read the book A Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. This
story is all about a small boy playing outside in the snow. Prior to reading,
the students shared their experiences playing in the snow. I passed out
dry erase boards with sticky notes on the back for the students to draw
and write about their self-to-text connections. After reading a few pages, I
paused to share a connection then used simple words and pictures to
record it. The students then used the first sticky note and recorded their
connection then shared with a friend. We continued this process
throughout the story. The students were very excited to make
connections. They were clearly beginning to better understand how to
make meaningful connections. I concluded the lesson by helping the
students to understand that making these connections helps us to
understand the story better. The slides that follow show the students and
their work from this lesson.
The kindergarteners work
diligently to record their
self-to-text connections!
Snow and I am jumping in the snow.
I made snow angels
I like to sled down a big hill.
When I woke up I saw white hills.
Sledding
Snowball fight
Big snow
Snowball fight
Snow angel
Lesson 3
Objective: Students will write a self-to-text
connection in their journals.
The text used for this lesson was When Sophie Gets Angry-Really,
Really Angry… by Molly Bang. This story is about a little girl who becomes
angry when her sister takes her toy. She shows her anger with
appropriate and inappropriate actions. This is a story that everyone,
especially young children, can make connections with. As I read the story
to the class they used the “r” hand sign to show that the story reminded
them of something. Several students shared throughout the story. At the
end, I modeled writing a self-to-text connection in my journal. The
students then wrote and drew about their own connection in their
journals. When the journals were completed the students shared their
journals with a partner. They were all able to connect with the character
in the story and enjoyed sharing about times that they became angry. It
was exciting to see the students beginning to make meaningful
connections! Examples of several student journal pages from this lesson
are on the following slides.
Mom said, “You have to take turns.”
My sister said, “My turn!”
I don’t want my sister to play with my toys.
I kicked the wall and punched the wall.
I get angry when my sister Zoe takes my toys. And my favorite toys.
Lesson 4
Objective: The students will make text-to-text
connections between Amazing Grace and
Oliver Button is a Sissy.
The book Amazing Grace was read the day before this lesson was
taught. After beginning reading the story Oliver Button is a Sissy I paused
and told the student that this reminded me of the story that we read the
day before. Both characters were told that they could not do the things
that they wanted to do. I told the students that this is a text-to-text
connection. We paused several times to make other text-to-text
connections. After reading the book a Venn Diagram was filled in on the
interactive white board using the students’ ideas. The students were able
to think of many connections between the stories. I found that the
overlap of the circles in the Venn Diagram was not big enough for all the
connections that the students thought of.
Relevance
I shared the lessons that I wrote with another kindergarten teacher at my school. She
taught all of the lessons and sent me an e-mail attachment with her response. I am
copying and pasting her response below.
Lessons written by Jennifer Flot
Lessons taught by Liz Buecker (Kindergarten teacher)
Making Self-to-text Connections
Lesson1
Objective: To introduce the concept of making connections
The students enjoyed the lesson. I was surprised that the children did not have more of a
connection to the book. They understood making connections by the end of the lesson
but did not relate to the book (The Relatives Came). Next time I think I would choose a
different book for this lesson.
Lesson2
Objective: Students will use sticky notes to record their self-to-text connections to the
book The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats.
The students loved this lesson. They enjoyed the book and could really relate to the topic,
snow! They did a fantastic job drawing and labeling their connections. This lesson
helped them to really have a full understanding of self-to-text connections.
Lesson 3
Objective: We will write a self-to-text connection in our journals.
The lesson today was very good. I was thrilled with the written connections my class produced. They
listened to the book When Sophie Gets Angry- Really, Really Angry. During the lesson they showed
the “r” sign if they had a connection. When the story ended we shared some of our connections.
They returned to their seats and drew and wrote about their connections. It was a very good
lesson which connected to the prior lessons. After three lessons they are making connections
during everything we read.
Lesson 4
Objective: We will make text to text connections between Amazing Grace and Oliver Button is a Sissy.
This lesson they struggled just a little in the beginning to make connections between the two texts. The
completed Venn diagram (teachers notes) helped me to coax the first few connections from them.
After we got started they began to understand. I read the first book Amazing Grace early in the
day, the day before. Next time I will try to read it closer to the lesson. I think this will help the
students have a better understanding of text to text connections.
Conclusion:
I did see a big difference when you choose a book that sparks their interest. The Snowy Day was the
perfect book. After the first four lessons I feel the students have a good understanding of self to
text connections. I would like to do another lesson on text to text connections to make sure they
grasp the concept.
Conclusion
What surprised me the most when I taught these
lessons was the great thinking and discussions that were
generated by the students. The students were able to
make meaningful connections and they were very excited
about the lessons.
For the future, I would like to create lessons that
would give the students more practice making text-totext connections. The next step would be to teach the
students what it means to make text-to-world
connections.
Overall, the students did very well with the lessons.
I am attaching my lesson plans to assist others in
replicating the lessons.