Making Connections while Reading

In order for students to gain a deep understanding of something they are reading, it is important for them to make connections.  Making connections is a skill that improves a child's comprehension of what they are reading and helps them to appreciate the text.

Teachers and parents can help a student comprehend by stopping after a few pages or paragraphs and asking questions that guide students to making a connection.

There are three basic types of connections:

1. Text-to-self connections: Making a connection between the text and themselves or their own life/experiences
2. Text-to-text connections: Making a connection between the text they are reading and another text that they have read
3. Text-to-world connections: Making a connection between the text and the world that they know around them

To help your child make connections, there are several questions you can ask them such as:

• That character seems to be feeling scared.  What was a time you felt scared before?
• The ending of that book surprised me.  Remember that other book we read where the ending was such a surprise? What was the name of that book?
• It looks like this book is talking about recycling.  A lot of towns recycle in different ways...what are some ways we recycle in Newington?

Making connections with a text is a great way to improve your child's comprehension, and it is also a wonderful way to have a discussion with your youngster!

For more information and tips, visit the following link:

http://www.scholastic.com/parents/blogs/scholastic-parents-raise-reader/help-your-kids-connect-to-books-they-read

We hope this helps!