Making Connections Teaching Resources

Explore making connections worksheets, anchor charts, graphic organizers, digital activities and more teaching resources created for your ELA lesson plans.

Designed by teachers, for teachers, the resources in this collection are aligned with the Common Core curriculum and have undergone a careful review by a member of our expert teaching team to ensure they help students build foundational literacy skills.

You'll find editable versions to easily differentiate your instruction for individual students, plus a variety of options to make lesson planning easier this school year so your students can relate what they're reading to the outside world or prior knowledge.

New to teaching this portion of the English curriculum or just looking for fresh and engaging ways to teach students how to make connections? Read on for a primer from our teacher team!

What Is Making Connections?

What does it mean to make connections in text?

A key reading comprehension strategy, the term making connections refers to relating the text to one's experiences, prior knowledge and the world outside of the text.

This strategy involves connecting what is being read to one's own life, other texts and the broader context to enhance understanding and engagement with the material.

Why Is Making Connections Important in Reading?

Developing comprehension skills requires a host of strategies, so what makes this one so important for kids to grasp?

Making connections helps students bridge the gap between the unfamiliar and the familiar when they're reading. In turn, this means students can better understand characters, events, and concepts — all of which leads to deeper comprehension.

This core strategy for early reading is part and parcel of the process of creating lifelong readers. After all, when our students can connect the text to their own lives, it becomes more meaningful and relevant to them.

Finding that meaning is key to fostering a love for reading, and it encourages students to become active participants in the reading process.

How to Teach the Making Connections Reading Strategy

This teaching resource collection is chock-a-block with instructional slide decks, worksheets and so much more to make it easy to teach students to employ the making connections reading strategy, but we didn't stop there.

Our team of expert ELA teachers has put together some tips just for you to help focus your instruction.

Here are some strategies to teach and encourage making connections in reading:

Make Text-to-Self Connections

Actively encourage your class to relate texts to their own experiences or personal knowledge. You can ask questions like, "Has anything similar ever happened to you?" or "How do you feel about what the character is going through?"

Make Text-to-Text Connections

Remind your students to explore any existing connections between the current text and other texts they have read.

You might ask your class questions like "Does this remind you of any other book we've read?" or "How is this character similar to or different from a character in another story?"

Make Text-to-World Connections

Are there real-world events, issues or historical contexts that can be tied to the text? Encourage class discussions on how the text relates to broader societal or global issues, asking questions like, "Can you think of any real-life examples similar to what happened in the story?"

Use Visual Aids and Graphic Organizers

Charts, diagrams and graphic organizers can all help your students visually represent and make connections between different elements of the text.

Create Shared Reading Experiences

Shared reading activities are a great opportunity for students to discuss and share connections with peers, and this helps build those making connections skills! Shared reading experiences in the classroom will provide opportunities to learn from others' perspectives and discover new connections.

Real-Life Connections

If you can, link the text to real-life experiences or invite guest speakers related to the topic of the text to help your students see the relevance and application of what they are reading.