Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Blue Ribbon Readers: Making Connections

For Teachers K - 5th Standards
Model for young readers how to make the shift from passive to active reading by making text-to-self and text-to-text connections. After a series of activities that provide guided practice, the focus shifts to making text-to-words...
Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Text Connections

For Teachers 5th
There are so many different ways to help learners make text-to-self connections. Here, fifth graders will create tableaus that show an event from a chapter in the class reader. They'll discuss why they chose that event to dramatize and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Making an Inference from an Implied Message Within a Text

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Show your scholars that they make inferences every day and might not even know it. Through scaffolded instruction, they break down the process of drawing information from context. Using example sentences and didactic questioning,...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Main Idea in Informational Text

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
Individuals complete a pre-assessment to gauge their ability to determine the main idea and supporting details in nonfiction text. They examine a new piece of nonfiction reading by looking at the table of contents, headings, and index...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The First Strawberries

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Young scholars explore Cherokee legends. They read The First Strawberries by Joseph Bruchac, and then do several activities to help comprehension. They discuss the book and answer comprehension questions. In addition, they retell the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Text to Self Connections

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Students read the story Ira Sleeps Over and write something about the end of the story that they have a connection with in their own life. In this text to self lesson plan, students look for something that helps them relate to the story...
Lesson Plan
3
3
Curated OER

Comparing and Contrasting Yourself to a Character

For Teachers 1st - 2nd Standards
First and second graders explore character as a story element. They  listen to the first part of the story First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg and observe the teacher modeling a compare and contrast characters activity. Learners...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Relatives

For Teachers K - 2nd
Primary learners read the text The Relatives Came and make text to self-connections. In this literature discussion, they discuss what the text reminds them of in their own lives. They can also write down their connections and share them.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Build a Connection

For Teachers 2nd - 8th
Learners discuss their personal connections with stories they've read in the past and identify techniques to connect with more stories. They create illustrations, construct task cards, and complete sentence stems based on books they read...
Lesson Plan
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1
Curated OER

Phineas Gage: The Teenage Brain and Connections: Free Choice Activity

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
During this instructional activity, which is all about making connections, learners watch a documentary about the teenage brain and connect it to Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science, their own lives, and the world.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Problematic Situation for Yoshiko Uchida's Journey to Topaz

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Like Yuki, Mrs. Sakane, and Ken, characters in Journey to Topaz, class groups must reach a consensus on 12 items they would bring if forced to relocate.  The activity provides readers with an opportunity to make text-to-self and...
Lesson Plan
Harper Collins

Parrot in the Oven: Response Journal

For Teachers 6th - 12th
After completing Chapter 5 of Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida, readers make text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections to Victor Martinez's novel by crafting journal entries addressing comments and questions to characters in...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Identifying Main Events

For Teachers K
Help kindergartners learn to identify the main events in fiction. They will review elements of fiction, retell information found in the text, and discuss their real-life daily experiences. All the while, they will be asking themselves...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Teaching Peace through Literature and Song

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Negative effects of bullying come to light through listening to the book Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco. Class members identify philanthropic acts portrayed in the story and make illustrations to connect them to their own...
Lesson Plan
Facing History and Ourselves

The Nazi Party Platform

For Teachers 7th - 11th Standards
Not all party platforms stay democratic. A resource covers many political issues in Germany during the time of World War II, and teaches pupils about the Nazi party platform and what went wrong. Individuals participate in a warm-up...
Lesson Plan
What So Proudly We Hail

The Meaning of America: Self-Command

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Even for one of the most accomplished men in American history, there was room for improvement. Challenge high schoolers to use Benjamin Franklin's Project for Moral Perfection to analyze text, make inferences, connect to historical...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Guided Reading: Flora's Box

For Teachers K - 1st
Young readers consider text-to-self connections. Learners discover the text-to-self connection as they read Flora's Box by Tina Althaide. They practice high frequency words, prepositions, and 1:1 correspondence.
Lesson Plan
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1
Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary

Benjamin Franklin and Learning a Lesson

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Examine stories with a moral in a character development instructional activity. The class reads a short story written by Benjamin Franklin in which he pays too much for a toy whistle. Individuals then make text-to-self connections and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

My Antonia: During Reading Strategy

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Home in on the quote on this page to explore setting, the author's and character's voices, and plot in Willa Cather's My Antonia. Pupils draw a picture of what is described in the quote, discuss the content, and make connections to their...
Lesson Plan
2
2
Maryland Department of Education

The Concept of Identity Lesson 3: The Archetypal Approach to Literary Criticism

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
As class members continue their study of approaches to literary criticism, readers examine the symbolism and archetypal patterns in John Knowles' A Separate Peace, and how these parallels are used to develop a theme...
Lesson Plan
3
3
Curated OER

Merely Players

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Disguises and role playing are the focus of a resource that uses Shakespeare’s As You Like It, Twelfth Night, and Henry IV, Part I, to demonstrate how we all play many parts in our lives; how we all are “merely players.” The many...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Phineas Gage: Questioning Strategy

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Focus on chapter two of Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science with a questioning activity. After teaching and modeling several types of questions, learners work with partners and then independently to answer and...
Lesson Plan
Incredible Art

Micrography Self-Portraits

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Words. Words. Words. Class members create micrography self-portraits combining a high contrast portrait photo with words that express themselves. Complete directions for the project, student samples, along with links to professional...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 10 ELA Module 3: Unit 1, Lesson 1

For Teachers 10th Standards
Can people live forever? Scholars ponder the answer as they analyze an excerpt from The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. As readers discover Lacks' immortal cells, they discuss how the author carefully sequences, connects and unfolds...