Targeted Literacy Strategy or Skill: Making connections with the text

Grade level: 2-3

Objective: Students will be able to make connections to the text and communicate different parts of the story that
remind them of personal experiences or memories.
Oklahoma PASS Standards:
Grade 2:
- Reading/Literature: The student will apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend,
interpret, evaluate, appreciate, and respond to a wide variety of texts.
Standard 5.2: Comprehension/Critical Literacy The student will interact with the words and
concepts in a text to construct an appropriate meaning.
a. Make inferences about events, characters, and ideas in fictional texts by
connecting knowledge and experience to the story.
b. Support interpretations or conclusions with examples taken from the text.
- Oral Language/Listening and Speaking: The student will demonstrate thinking skills in
listening and speaking.
Standard 2: Speaking The student will express ideas and opinions in group or
individual situations.
1. Speak articulately and audibly using appropriate language, correct usage, enunciation and
volume.
2. Provide descriptions using correct sequence of events and details.
3. Use verbal and nonverbal communication in effective ways, such as making
announcements, giving directions, or making instructions.
Standard 3: Group Interaction The student will use effective communication strategies
in pairs and small group context.
1. Show respect and consideration for others in verbal or physical communication.
2. Ask and answer questions related to the topic and make contributions in small or large
group discussions.
Grade 3:
-Reading/Literature: The student will apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend,
interpret, evaluate, appreciate, and respond to a wide variety of texts.
Standard 4.2: Comprehension/Critical Literacy - The student will interact with the words and
concepts in a text to construct an appropriate meaning.
a. Make inferences by connecting prior knowledge and experience with
information from the text.
b. Interpret text, including lessons or morals depicted in fairytales, fables, etc.,
and draw conclusions from evidence presented in the text.
*c. Participate in creative response to text (e.g., art, drama, and oral
presentations).
- Oral Language/Listening and Speaking: The student will demonstrate thinking skills in
listening and speaking.
Standard 3: Group Interaction The student will use effective communication strategies
in pairs and small group context.
1. Show respect and consideration for others in verbal or physical communication.
2. Ask and answer questions related to the topic and make contributions in small or large
group discussions.
Prior knowledge: (What students already know)
- Students understand story structure.
- Students are able to use background knowledge and make predictions about the text.

Observations/Rationale: (Before Lesson) What did you notice in your students work that let you know this
lesson was necessary?
It is time to start this unit/ skill.
Materials Needed:
Lesson from Strategies That Work (p. 93)
Mentor Text: Slower Than the Rest by: Cynthia Rylant
Materials: Copies of the article, area to record our connections, (optional: sticky notes)
Student Groups: (Individual then) Whole Group
Mini Lesson Format:
Connect (Engagement/Pre-reading):
Begin by connecting the text to the students and grabbing their attention. Briefly preview the text by giving a
one to two sentence summary.
- How many of you have ever had a pet?
- Almost everybody right?! Well in todays story were going to read about Leo who has just gotten
his very first pet turtle.

Teach (Explain /Model)

Explain the new skill that we are going to be working on and any tips that may help the reader while reading.
Also model an example of what you expect students to do once the class comes back together as a group.
- Today we are going to start connecting the new to the known, we are going to use our schema to
see what connections we can make to the short story Slower Than the Rest by Cynthia Rylant
- Specifically though, we are going to look for instances in the story that remind us of
something else. Your something else can be past experiences, memories, or even just
background knowledge that you may have on a particular subject. It can be almost anything
really!
- Since we have benn getting more familiar with coding our texts, today we are going to use
an R to mark when we find something that reminds us of something else. It might be a
good idea to make a note in the margin or on a sticky note about your connection so you can
talk about them later.
- So just looking at the opening paragraph I made some notes about what this section reminded me
of:
- I remember that turtles are scientifically classified under the order of chilonia (this goes
back to biology when we study scientific names: genus, phylum, species.) I was on the
forensics (speech and debate) team my 1st semester in college and one of my team members
gave a speech on turtles and so its just a little tidbit that I happened to retain.

Active Engagement (students try it out):

Ask students to read the text individually and to practice the new comprehension strategy.
- So now that you guys have kind of seem my thinking go ahead and read and see what you get
reminded of while reading.
- When everybodys done well go ahead and share out with the class.
- Okay, so I hope you guys were able to make some great connections. Now were going to
make a list of some of the different connections that we made, would anybody like to share
what the story reminded them of??
Create a two-column chart with What the Story is About on one side and What It reminds Me Of on the
other while students are reading. Bring the class back together and record observations that the students
made.

Link (Articulating the expectation that students will now use this skill/strategy when reading or writing)
Do a very quick recap of why this skill is important and give some kind of example as to how the students
can use this strategy in their everyday lives as readers.
- You guys really came up with some awesome connections about what the story reminded you of!
Paying attention and looking for things that spark these kinds of connections will really help you
connect deeper with what you reading and also help you remember it. So just try to be aware and
make an effort to make those connections because they can only help you and your understanding of
the text. (Also, I know that a lot of us are either finishing up or have already turned in our personal
narratives for Teaching Language Arts, but if you ever need to come up with a good idea for a
personal narrative you can try out this technique. When you look at our list they are all (or there are a
couple) possible topics or seed ideas for a narrative.)