Text Connections

This month my reading focus is text connections. I like to refer back to the same book when I teach about connections and Amazing Grace is perfect for the month of January to teach about Martin Luther King Jr. and acceptance. Oliver Button is a Sissy is also a great book about differences and is very similar to Amazing Grace so it makes an excellent text to text connection. I spend about a week on each type of connection and by the third week we have learned about Martin Luther King Jr. so we take a look at Amazing Grace again and the kids are able to make a text to world connection with what we've learned about MLK. Over the course of the month, while the kids are reading I encourage them to write their connection on a strip of paper and add to our "connection" chain. This motivates them since the students think it's fun to add to the chain! I hang the text connections posters above our CAFE menu as we learn about each connection.