Connecting reading to experience
Link what is read or heard to own experiences; draw on background knowledge and vocabulary to support understanding of texts
What a learner can do afterwards
- Make text-to-self connections (e.g. 'This reminds me of when I...')
- Use personal experience to understand a character's feelings
- Relate events in a story to own life to deepen comprehension
1 · Read
When you read or hear a story, you can think of your own life too. That helps you understand the story better. The best match is a time you felt the same way, not just a time you saw the same thing.
A story is about a child's first day at school. You went to school too. You remember feeling nervous. Now you know just how that child feels.
A story says a boy visits his grandma and eats her soup. You visit your grandma too. You picture her kitchen and her smell of soup.
A story can also remind you of another story you know. Look for what happens in both stories, not just the same things in them. Two stories can connect to each other, like a story and your life do.
While you read, ask yourself: has this ever happened to me? You can also ask: does this remind me of another story? Both questions help you understand more.
Match the story to your own life. It helps you understand what is happening.
More to read
Become a stronger reader: Use what you already know
Before you read, stop and think. What do you already know about this?
Maybe the book is about the beach. Have you been to a beach? Think about the sand. Think about the waves. This helps you understand the story better. It also helps you remember it.
Here are some ways to wake up what you already know:
Talk about the topic with a friend, a parent, or a classmate.
Draw or write down words and ideas about the topic. This is called a knowledge map.
Make a chart with three parts. What do I know? What do I want to know? What did I learn?
Look at the title and the pictures. Ask yourself, what does this remind me of?
Making and supporting inferences | Guided practice
Have you ever watched a movie and guessed the ending? How did you do it? You used clues from the movie. You also used what you already know. That is called an inference.
An inference is something you figure out. You use clues from the words you read. You add what you already know from your own life.
Clues from the book plus what you know equals an inference.
A character shivers and hugs her coat. You know cold days make you shiver too. So you can guess she is cold, even if the book does not say it.
2 · Watch
En anglaisTake it off screen
Where it sits
Learn first
Nothing; this is a starting point.
Optional connections
This opens up
Where this leads
23 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.