Lesson # 1 of 2 Grade Level: Second Grade

Central Focus Making connections

NY State Next Generation Standards.

ELA:
Standard
2R9: Make connections between self and text (texts and other
people/world). (RI&RL)

Learning Students will be able to make text to self, text to text, and text to
Objective world connections by reading the story “The Great Fuzz Frenzy”
and completing a reading graphic organizer.

Picture of the book “The Great Fuzz Frenzy”

Picture of the book “The Great Puppy Invasion”
“Making Connections” PowerPoint presentation
Copies of the worksheet with a reading graphic organizer to make
Materials connections
Copies of the worksheet with a reading graphic organizer to make
connections (version with pictures to support struggling students).

The purpose of learning to make connections to self, text, and world

from a story is to help students relate what they read with their
Purpose
personal experiences so that students are more engaged in
reading.

The teacher begins the lesson by activating students' previous

knowledge. First, the teacher shows a picture of the book “The
Great Fuzz Frenzy” which they read in the previous class, and asks
students if they remember what the story is about. The teacher
helps students put all their ideas together and create a short verbal
Instruction
summary of what the story is about. Second, the teacher shows
students a picture of the book “The Great Puppy Invasion” which
they read in previous weeks, and asks students if they remember
what the story is about. The teacher helps students put all their
ideas together and create a short verbal summary of what the story
is about. Last, the teacher explains to students that they will be
using the story “The Great Fuzz Frenzy” to learn about making
connections and that they will use the story “The Great Fuzz
Frenzy” and the story “The Great Puppy Invasion” together in one
part of the lesson.

The teacher shows students the PowerPoint presentation with the

title “Making Connections.” The teacher shows the first slide of the
presentation and explains to students what it means to make
connections.

To show students how to make text to self connections first, the

teacher shows students the second slide of the PowerPoint
presentation and explains to students what it means to make text to
self connections. Second, the teacher shows the third slide of the
PowerPoint presentation to students and explains to them how they
can use different questions to help them make text to self
connections. Third, the teacher shows students the fourth slide of
the PowerPoint presentation and guides them to analyze what is
happening on page 148 of the story “The Great Fuzz Frenzy.”
Fourth, the teacher shows the fifth slide of the PowerPoint
presentation to students and uses the questions on the slide to
encourage students to make a text to self connection to page 148 of
the story. Last, the teacher shows the sixth slide of the PowerPoint
presentation to students and shares a personal text to self
connection from page 148 of the story with them.

To show students how to make text to text connections first, the

teacher shows students the seventh slide of the PowerPoint
presentation and explains to them what it means to make text to text
connections. Second, the teacher shows students the eighth slide of
the PowerPoint presentation and explains to them how they can use
different questions to help them make text to text connections.
Third, the teacher shows students the ninth slide of the PowerPoint
presentation and guides them to analyze what is happening on
page 128 of the story “The Great Fuzz Frenzy” and page 32 of the
story “The Great Puppy Invasion,” compare them, and find
similarities. Fourth, the teacher shows students the tenth slide of the
PowerPoint Presentation and guides them to analyze what is
happening on page 129 of the story “The Great Fuzz Frenzy” and
page 33 of the story “The Great Puppy Invasion,” compare them,
and find similarities. Fifth, the teacher shows students the eleventh
slide of the PowerPoint presentation, and highlights and explains
the connections between the two stories. Finally, the teacher shows
students the twelfth slide of the PowerPoint Presentation and tells
them the final explanation for the text to text connection between
the two stories.
 To show students how to make text to world connections, first, the
teacher shows the thirteenth slide of the PowerPoint presentation to
students and explains to them what it means to make text to world
connections. Second, the teacher shows students the fourteenth
slide of the PowerPoint presentation and explains to them how they
can use different questions to help them make text to world
connections. Third, the teacher shows students the fifteenth slide of
the PowerPoint presentation to students and guides them to
analyze what is happening on pages 144 and 145 of the story “The
Great Fuzz Frenzy.” Fourth, the teacher shows students the
sixteenth slide of the PowerPoint presentation and uses a question
to encourage students to make a text to word connection to pages
144 and 145 of the story. Last, the teacher shows students the
seventeenth slide of the PowerPoint presentation and shares a
personal text to world connection with them.

Anticipated difficulties: Students might not be able to make

connections when asked to do so during the mini-lesson. To prevent
this from happening as much as possible, the teacher will show and
explain examples of different questions students can use to help
them make text to self, text to text, and text to world connections.

Students will find one text to self connection, one text to text
connection to any story they have read in their “Into Reading” book,
any book they have read as part of their reading log homework, or
Learning Task any other book they have read on their own, and one text to world
connection by using the story “The Great Fuzz Frenzy.” They will
show their work by completing the worksheet with the reading
graphic organizer to make connections.

The teacher asks students to share with the class the connections
Closing / to the text they were able to find. The teacher makes clarifications
Debrief and answers questions to make sure students understand how to
make text to self, text to text, and text to world connections.

Assessments
Informal assessments
 During guided practice, students make text to self connections to
page 148 of the story “The Great Fuzz Frenzy” and share their ideas
with the class.

During guided practice, students work as a class to find text to text

connections between the story “The Great Fuzz Frenzy” and the
story “The Great Puppy Invasion.”

During guided practice, students make text to world connections to

pages 144 and 145 of the story “The Great Fuzz Frenzy” and share
their ideas with the class.

During the learning task, students will show how they make text to
self, text to text, and text to world connections by completing the
reading graphic organizer to make connections.

During the closing, students will show what they know by sharing the
text to self, text to text, and text to world connections they were able
to make from the story “The Great Fuzz Frenzy.”

The teacher encourages struggling students to make text to self, text

to text, and text-to-world connections based on the pictures that are
in the story. Struggling students will receive a version of the copy of
the reading graphic organizer to make connections with pictures that
show the meaning of the concepts text to self, text to text, and text
to world connections so that they have a better understanding of
Differentiation
each term.

The teacher encourages students who excel to make text to self,

text to text, and text to world connections based on the narrative,
dialogues, words, and pictures that are in the story.

Academic Making connections, self to text connections, text to text

Language connections, text to world connections