Making Connections Unit (10 days)

Day / Mini Lesson / Activities
1 / What is a Wow Page?
Independent Reading
Shared Reading / Explain to students that a Wow page is one that gives the reader a type of reaction. It could make them sad, happy, or surprised. You could have learned something or it could have reminded of something that has happened to you or reminds you of something that happened in another book.
Model finding a Wow page is First Day Jitters. Explain that you had it marked with a post it on the page where you learned that the teacher was the character who was nervous about the first day of school. Explain why that was a WOW page for you.
Teach children how to use the post it notes and what to write on the post it. (For now they can just write WoW)
Give children post its and ask them to read to themselves for 15 minutes and to mark a page that they may find a WOW moment.
Predicting Outcomes page 1. Read and complete together.
2 / What does connection mean?
Independent Reading
Shared Reading / Review what a WOW page is with the students. Allow students to share any WOW pages they have marked.
Remind students that a WOW page is also one that reminds you of something that has happened to you. This is called a Text to self connection.
Read “Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse.” As your reading the part where Lilly plays with her purse when she is supposed to be listening to her teacher, stop and mark it with a WOW post it. Explain why you are marking this page. Tell them this is a text to self because what happened in the book is similar to something that has happened to me.
Students read to themselves for at least 15 minutes. They should mark any text to self connections they may have. Allow children to share with the class any text to self connections they encountered.
Predicting Outcomes p. 2. Read and complete together.
3 / A good reader explains his/her connection well.
Independent Reading
Shared Reading / Remind children that a connection is something that happens in a book reminds you of something. A text to self connection is when something that happens in a book reminds you of something that happened to you.
Explain that we have to explain our connections to book and ourselves by talking about two things: what happened in the book and what happened to me.
Show the children the anchor chart. “In the book, (title) this happened. This reminds me (what happened to me.)
Reread Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse. Allow children to share their connections, but insist they use the anchor chart wording.
Students read to themselves for at least 15 minutes. They should mark any text to self connections they may have. Allow children to share with the class any text to self connections they encountered.
Predicting Outcomes p. 82 (AAC)
Day / Mini Lesson / Activities
4 / A good reader explains his/her connections to a book well.
Independent Reading
Shared Reading / Remind children that a connection is something that happens in a book reminds you of something. A text to self connection is when something that happens in a book reminds you of something that has happened to you.
Remind children that when we explain our connections to others, we must talk about two things in order for people to understand what we are talking about. We must explain what happened in the book and what happened to me.
Allow a couple students to share any connections they had yesterday. Insist that the wording on the anchor chart is used.
Read, Friends, by Helme Heine. Model your own text to self connections.
Students read to themselves for at least 15 minutes. They should mark any text to self connections they may have. Allow children to share with the class any text to self connections they encountered.
Predict outcome of Liz and George. Underline the clues in the story. Write a sentence of what the children predict will happen.
5 / What other connections can readers make to books?
Independent Reading
Shared Reading / Remind children that a connection is something that happens in a book reminds you of something. A text to self connection is when something that happens in a book reminds you of something that has happened to you.
Read aloud “Chester’s Way,” by Kevin Henkes. As you read, you will find the common theme found in the book Friends read yesterday. Explain to children that this book reminds you of the book Friends because something similar in the book happened. This is not a text to self connection because what happened in the book did not happen to me but happened in another book. This is called a text to text connection.
Finish reading the book, but only make text to text connections.
Explain that text to text connections is when something that happens in a book reminds you of something that happened in another book. The events could even remind you of something that happened on a t.v. show, a movie, or in a magazine.
Instruct children to read for 15 minutes and to mark any of their pages with a WOW page. If they have a text to self, they should right T-S. If they have a Text to text, they should write T-T.
Predict Outcome p. 20 and 22
6 / How do I explain a text to text connection?
Independent Reading
Shared Reading / Remind children of the two types of connections.
Explain that when they explain a connection to a friend, family member, or teacher, they must talk about two things. What happened in the book and what happened to me or what happened in another book.
Model how to write and explain a text to text connection. In the book, (title) this happened. This reminds me of the book, (title) because this happened.
Reread, Friends, and allow children to share their text to text connections to Chester’s Way or any other book they have a connection to.
Instruct children to read for 15 minutes and to mark any of their pages with a WOW page. If they have a text to self, they should right T-S. If they have a Text to text, they should write T-T.
Predicting Outcome p. 122 and 6 (Take a grade)
Day / Mini-Lesson / Activities
7 / Writing Text to text or text to self Connections
Independent Reading
Shared Reading / Review the two types of connections.
Tell children you are going to read aloud a book named, Wemberley Worried. Tell the children that you want them to make connections, but you want them to think about them in their minds, and not share orally with the class.
Read Wemberley Worried aloud to the class. As you read, you can give them some hints about books we have read that may provide them connections. (Hopefully, we will have copies of the book jackets and summaries on the wall for them)
After reading, the children will be given a text to text frame worksheet to fill out at their desks.
Children may need to use this time to complete their text to text frame worksheets. If they do finish, they should read their books and mark any WOW pages with T-T or T-S.
Read Shipwreck Saturday. Stop reading before the boat wrecks. TSW write what they predict will happen and the clues from the book that helped them decide that.
8 / Connections help us understand the book better
Independent Reading
Shared Reading / Review the anchor chart with student’s responses from yesterday. Introduce how some connections help us understand the story better than others. As a class number the response 1- it helped me understand the story better or 2- it didn't help us.
The whole reason we do WOW pages or connections is because it make us understand the book better. Reading is thinking- if our WOW or connection does not help us think about the BOOK (not our friend who also has a red shirt). Usually these help us with what we think will happen next (prediction), why the character did something (this can actually be the beginning of inference) or how a character is feeling.
Instruct children to read for 15 minutes and to mark any of their pages with a WOW page. If they have a text to self, they should right T-S. If they have a Text to text, they should write T-T.
Allow students to share their predictions of what they thought was going to happen in the rest of Shipwreck Saturday. Finish the story. AAC complete sequencing bubbles of Little Bill’s day. (You can make this a paper for a grade)
9 / Writing my connections
Independent Reading
Shared Reading / Once again review the connections and how to explain them.
Today, read A Weekend With Wendell by Kevin Henkes.
The children listen to and write a text to self connection on the text to self frame worksheet.
Children may need to use this time to complete their text to self frame worksheets. If they do finish, they should read their books and mark any WOW pages with T-T or T-S.
Play the tape to go with Shipwreck Saturday. The children complete the character trait worksheet for Little Bill. (Take a grade if you choose.)
10 / Mini Lesson / Activities
Writing My Connections
Independent Reading
Shared Reading / Once again review the connections and how to explain them.
Today, read Bootsie Barker Bites.
The children listen to and write their text to text connection on the text to text frame worksheet.
Children may need to use this time to complete their text to self frame worksheets. If they do finish, they should read their books and mark any WOW pages with T-T or T-S.
None today or catch up.