What is Making Connections Text to World?
When I first learned about making connections text to world, I was trying to wrap my mind around how I can possible teach 6-7 year old’s about how to connect a book we are reading to the WORLD. But it isn’t as difficult as it seems. And, It’s not that you have to go all ‘current events‘ on them, although that would work for older students, for sure. But, some current world events would be too much for the little ones. And, there are are some current world events that would be totally appropriate for your classroom. When you teach littles, you have to think about what is in their little world.
Making Connections Text to World
Making Connections: Text to World is simply making connection to the world of your students. Six and seven year old’s worlds include holidays, and favorite movies. Also, some current events that they are aware of such a trend like bottle flipping. I fell into the trap of trying to stay away from trend for a while and realized I was missing out on making connections.
Sometimes researching an animal from a fictional book you read can be what’s going on in the world. And, almost every animal alive has a recent article or event happening in the world, such as turtle breeding season. Is there a baby elephant that was born at your local zoo? Is your town opening up a brand new path for walking? Does your school or town park have a new playground? These are all world around us stories we can find books about. Also, you could read the book about playgrounds, pathways for walking, or baby elephants, and show the newspaper or YouTube video of the story.
World Trends
But, what about trends that are viral in our world? Do you remember the spinners, bottle flipping (above mentioned), or dance videos on social media? Don’t think that students don’t know about these lastest trends. Most of them do. And we are missing out on making a connection by avoiding them. Teach the dance, apply science to the flip, and challenge with the spinners. But remember to read the books about those subjects first. Consider recycling plastic bottles, then do some bottle flipping. Read books about ways to calm yourself or challenge yourself and give your students (with procedures set in place) some spinners. You can also challenge them to complete a task before it stops spinning, like clean our their pencil box, desk, complete math problems. The list goes on and on.
So don’t be afraid to jump in and making connections text to world! You got this! There are other Text to Connections you can find here.
If you want to read about Text to Self, click here!
If you want to read about Text to Text, click here!
How I am Making Connections: Text to World
A couple years ago, I was teaching on the topic of recycling during the week of Earth Day. I have several books about recycling and how to keep our earth clean. We happened to also be working on the reading comprehension skill Text to World. So I wanted to find something that would help my students make the connection: Text to World. I looked up recycling stories and found a You Tube Video of a young girl explaining pollution in our world. This is a great way to segue into a book you will be reading to your students. Be sure to point out the obvious to them that they are making Text to World Connections here!
Making Connections: FREE Text to World Lesson Plan
Objective: Students will understand the following term. Text to World
Materials: Materials: One book, Anchor chart paper, picture books, magazines, newspaper
Do you need a plan to get your started? Here is one I teach every year to jump start our Text to World Connections.
Lesson Plan
Day One: Have an anchor chart labeled CONNECTIONS: TEXT TO WORLD. On the anchor chart, draw a picture of a blank book with the label on the front. Then draw a picture of print one of the world. Draw arrows to show this. As you are making connections to something going on in the world, draw pictures or write labels for the connections. For example, if you are reading a book about recycling, draw the book on the anchor chart, and arrow, draw a bottle or other plastics, then discuss something going on in our world related to recycling. You might consider using the You Tube in this article if you are reading about Earth day, or recycling. Be sure to write out the similarities in the text and the video.
Here is an example of a book you might use to make the Text to World connection.
Or, you might think of a holiday that is coming up, such as Halloween, or Valentines Day. After you read the book, ask students if there is something happening in our world that might be a holiday that connects to this book. It can be donut day, pizza day, or any silly day you may be celebrating. It can also be something going on in the world, such a butterfly festival, or strawberry festival. Just find a similar book and get creative. These are things happening in our “world.” You can also use a movie that is a hit that just came out.
Read the Book, See the Movie
We saw a trailer for a movie that has a book, too. This is a WONDERFUL way to connect. Read the book, see the movie. If you search a topic, such as CHILDREN’S BEAR MOVIES, you can find a plethora of movies you can show that are appropriate for your students’ ages. Gather all the bear books you can find, fiction, non-fiction, nursery rhymes, and poetry to read. Study bears! Then watch the movie. Don’t forget to have the discussion following for your students to see the connections between the two. Was the movie fiction? Non-fiction? Which books that we read are fiction? Non-fiction? Don’t limit yourself. You can pretty much look at any appropriate topic and go for it!
Discussions following movie: Say, this is called a “text to world” connection. Everyone say text to world connection. This is when we can see a connection between the text and something happening or movie in our world.
Day 2: Extensions for Making Connections: Text to World
Extension One: At their seat or in station: give students a tub with books that are relatable, such as your recycling, Christmas or Halloween tub. Let them make connections. Be dramatic and act like you didn’t do this on purpose. You don’t need many. For a small group of 6 students, consider at least 5-10 books for them to look through. If you don’t have this many, consider checking out books from your school or public library.
Extension two: Draw a picture of the front of one book and then a picture of the similar event. Label the top Text to World or T-W. Use the following page if you need. Also, there are many pages in this resource you can use in a station to differentiate or review throughout the week or year. Text to Text, Text to Self, Text to World
Extension three: Use two posty notes for students to make tiny pictures. They love to do this in my class. I also do this at my guided reading table. This is always a big hit for novelty.
Teaching Text to World Connections
When teaching text-to-world connections to young learners, it’s important to make the concepts tangible and relatable. Young learners often find it easier to make connections when it’s something they can see in front of them or in the local environment. Visual cues and activities that include real-world materials can help make the concepts of text-to-world connections more easily understood. Activities such as finding items in the classroom that relate to a story they are reading.
Also, comparing what they read in the book to what they see in front of them. They might create a map to connect a story to their surroundings. You can also refer to a map of the world if you are reading about another country, city, or state. All of these encourage an understanding of the text-to-world connection. When possible, have a field trip or inviting a guest speaker into the classroom to share something related to the text can also be a great way to engage with the material in an interactive and memorable way.
Engaging Young Readers
Text to world connections can be a great way to engage young learners. For K-2, create engaging activities that allow them to make connections between the text and the real world. Ask them to draw pictures or write stories that illustrate the main ideas of the text. Have them retell a plot from a story in their own words, or ask open ended questions that encourage them to think bigger than the text. Engage their imaginations by asking them to relate characters in the story to other people in their own lives. Through making these connections, young children can develop a deep understanding of the text and learn valuable life lessons.
Ways to make Text to World Connections
Text to World connections are a great way to engage young minds! It provides students with an opportunity to take what they are learning in the classroom and apply it to the real world. For K-2 students, this connection can be made through the use of books, videos, role-playing, and even through excursions in the community. With each activity, students will gain a new perspective on the text and see how it connects to their life. Text to World connections allow young students to take an abstract idea and make it more real and meaningful. Not only does this create a deeper understanding, but also builds a bridge to self-discovery and encourages students to be more confident and curious.
Field Trip Ideas to Connect to the World Around You
So when you grab a book to read to your students, think about ways you can connect it to the world around you. One of the ways we do this in our first grade classroom is to study “Farm to Table” for a week or two, then take a trip to the farm. This is a fun way to see your students connect the concepts to what they are reading. Another trip we take is to the Solarium at our local college. In addition to being fun, it is FREE at our local college and they show students the solar system. You should also check with your local college to see if this is something you can do free with your students. We do this trip after studying the solar system for a couple weeks.
Take a Walk Outside Connections
Do you have books about bugs? If not, hit up the local library, teacher friends, or public library. Read all the books, then take a walk outdoors at your school. Find bugs, connect by drawing pictures of the bugs you found. Did you read a book about the bugs you found? Did you find bugs that you didn’t read about? Maybe do a follow up and gather books about some of the bugs your students found that you didn’t read about.
Are your reading about leaves? Go on a leaf hunt. Gather leaves and compare them to the leaves in the books your read.
Do you read about plants and flowers? Go on a walk to look for clovers during March when you are celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. Maybe the leprechaun in your text went on a clover hunt, too!
Do you read about Santa Claus at Christmas? He gave away presents. Do you do a gift exchange? Maybe they will get gifts at home, or maybe Santa comes to their house to make this connection.
Community Workers? Invite a nurse, doctor, fireman, your principle, a teacher friend, clergy, post man… the list goes on and on? Compare/contrast to what you read to make those connections.
I am getting excited to teach this concept this upcoming year just by writing about it! Go, go, go! You got this!!
