Chapter 2 - Reading Strategy: Making Connections

Good readers make connections while reading.

Kinds of Connections
1. Text to self: to own experiences and memories
2. Text to world: to facts and information about history, current events, the world
3. Text to text: to other stories, songs, TV shows, movies, etc.

Reasons to Make Connections
Making connections helps readers:
- Visualize.
- Listen to others to see how they are connecting to the text, thus enrichingeveryone’s understanding of the material.
- Read more actively—with a purpose—which reduces boredom and increasesattention.
- Remember what they read since it has become personalized.
- Ask questions.
- Relate to characters by understanding their feelings and motivations.

What You Can Do
- Create a Venn diagram to show how subject areas overlap and how they differ, or to bridge information between textbook chapters or linked novels.
- Look at the topic of study. Write the facts you know about the subject.
- Model your thinking by sharing the connections you make while reading.
- Identify similarities between subjects you study.

Example Connecting Statements
- This part reminds me of....
- I felt like...(character) when I....
- If that happened to me I would....
- This book reminds me of...(another text) because....
- I can relate to...(part of text) because one time....
- Something similar happened to me when....

Chapter 2 Assignment
While you are reading chapter 2 (pages 17-37), think about the connections you make to the text. Remember, connections can be text to self, text to world, and/or text to text.