ALEX Classroom Resources

   View Standards     Standard(s): [ELA2021] (3) 4 :

4. Ask and answer questions using complete sentences and grade-level vocabulary.

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5. Express ideas, opinions, and feelings orally in a logical sequence clearly, accurately, and precisely, using appropriate volume, clear pronunciation, and standard English grammar.

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26. Use text comparisons (text to text, text to self, and text to world) to make meaning.

a. Use prior knowledge to determine similarities between texts they are reading and texts they have previously read.

b. Compare different versions of the same story.

How does the story connect to your own life, another text you have read, or the world around you? In this lesson, students will make text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections after reading In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson. Students gain a deeper understanding of a text when they make authentic connections. After reading the novel, the instructor introduces and models the strategy of making connections. After sharing and discussing connections, students choose and plan a project that makes a personal connection to the text.

This lesson uses In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson as an example, but this activity is effective with any work of literature in which connections are important.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [ELA2021] (3) -3 :

R3. Expand background knowledge and build vocabulary through discussion, reading, and writing.

[ELA2021] (3) 4 :

4. Ask and answer questions using complete sentences and grade-level vocabulary.

[ELA2021] (3) 18 :

18. Demonstrate content knowledge built during independent reading of informational and literary texts by participating in content-specific discussions with peers and/or through writing.

[ELA2021] (4) -6 :

R1. Utilize active listening skills during discussion and conversation in pairs, small groups, or whole-class settings, following agreed-upon rules for participation.

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14. Demonstrate comprehension of literary and informational text by utilizing its content when discussing or writing in response to the text.

[ELA2021] (5) -6 :

R1. Utilize active listening skills during discussion and conversation in pairs, small groups, or whole-class settings, following agreed-upon rules for participation.

[ELA2021] (5) 9 :

9. Express ideas clearly and effectively to diverse partners or groups.

a. Pose and respond to explicit questions in ways that contribute to the discussion and elaborate on the remarks of others.

b. Verbally summarize information read aloud or presented in diverse media and formats.

c. Report orally on a topic or text, sequencing ideas logically and supporting main ideas with appropriate facts and relevant details.

d. Speak clearly at an understandable rate.

[ELA2021] (5) 16 :

16. Demonstrate comprehension of varied literary and informational texts by utilizing its content when discussing or writing in response to the text.

A piece of math-related children's literature, Sixteen Cows, is used to demonstrate the strategy of problem-posing. After hearing the story read aloud, students are invited to brainstorm some literary and mathematical observations of the story. With the teacher's guidance, students then turn those observations into "what-if" mathematical extensions. These extensions become mathematical problems that students solve, both individually and as a whole class. Since this strategy highlights changing attributes of a story, it underscores for children the range of choices that authors have.