Minds On

Exploring a story

Let’s explore this video with Madison and Polkaroo.

In the video, Madison and Polkaroo showed us how they shared.

Can you think of a time when you had to share something?

Why was it important to share?

Action

Making connections

Text-to-self

By thinking of a time you shared something, you made a connection to the video. You thought of something in the video that also happened to you.

This is called a text-to-self connection.

Practice

Now let’s practice doing a text-to-self connection by exploring The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. Record your connections using the following fillable and printable Text-to-Self Connections Graphic Organizer or make an audio clip.

Press the ‘Activity’ button to access the Text-to-Self Connections Graphic Organizer.

Activity (Open PDF in a new window)

Summary of The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

Reflect on these questions as you make your connections:

  • Think about a day that you played in the snow. Was it like Peter’s day?
  • Which part of the story did you connect to something that happened to you?
  • When you considered your snowy day, did it help you understand how Peter was feeling in the story?

Once you have finished, share your connection with a partner if possible.

Text-to-text

Some connections we make because a text has the same author, characters, or events that are similar or have the same topic as another text that we know.

Practice

Now, let’s explore these two stories and try to make a connection between them.

Access the following episode of 16 Hudson, "Stick to It."

Access the following video "Kid Reporter Alex: Sledge Hockey."

What did you notice that was similar or the same about each story? Was there more than one thing? Were you able to make at least one connection?

With a partner, share and compare the connections that you both made.

Consolidation

Make your own connection!

Think about the different types of connections you can make with a story as you explore a TVOkids video:

  • text-to-self - the text reminds me of something that happened to me
  • text-to-text - this reminds me of another story

Using the TVOkids video, make one of the two types of connections above.

Describe the connection you made with the story. Here are sentence starters to help you get going:

  • This story reminded me of…
  • I have felt the same as…
  • I noticed… which reminded me of…

You can record your connection using a method of your choice or in the chart.

Complete the Making Connections Chart in your notebook or using the following fillable and printable document.

Making Connections Chart
Connection My examples
Text-to-self
Text-to-text

Press the ‘Activity’ button to access the Making Connections Chart.

Activity (Open PDF in a new window)

Student Success

Think-Pair-Share

If possible, share your connections with a partner and reflect on these questions:

  • How were your connections similar?
  • How were they different?
  • Do you feel that making a connection with the story helped you understand the story better?

Note to teachers: See your teacher guide for collaboration tools, ideas and suggestions.

Reflection

How do you feel about what you have learned in this activity? Which of the next four sentences best matches how you are feeling about your learning? Press the button that is beside this sentence.

I feel…

Now, record your ideas about your feelings using a voice recorder, speech-to-text, or writing tool.