Making Connections (& A Freebie!)

Next week we are going to do a lesson on making connections.  We briefly talked about it at the beginning of the year when we started our Reader Response Journals, but I think we need a more in-depth lesson because I'm still not seeing the connections to text that I would like to see in their journals.  I found a great printable at Scholastic called "Read, Relate, Respond."  I thought to myself how great would that be if these were on sticky notes and I remembered one of my favorite bloggers, Kristen, at Ladybug's Teacher Files posted some time ago about printing on sticky notes.  I used her awesome template to create my own making connection sticky notes.  

(click image to download)

It will definitely not be fun to arrange and print 60 copies for each one of my students, but I think they turned out so well that I will!  Once they use the pre-printed sticky notes, hopefully that will get them in the habit of using them for making connections and they will create their own from now on.  Of course, they don't have to write on the sticky notes and just use them to mark the page where they made the specific connection.  (I'm thinking out loud right now....)


I also created a Making Connections thinking stems notes page for students to keep in their literacy binders.  I hope these stems will improve their journal writing.  

(click image to download)

Enjoy the freebies!  How do you teach students to make connections?