Here in the United States we are in the midst of our Presidential Election 2012. The big candidates seem to be Barack Obama and Mitt 
Romney. This is big news here and this lends itself to a perfect way to make connections with what one is reading. This election is happening in our world and is something that can be connected with what we are reading.
Nonfiction text seems to naturally lend itself to make a text to world connection, but it also works with fiction. People tend to make less text to world connections with fiction though.
What kinds of text lend themselves to text to world connections? Take a look at my top 10.
- Newspaper
- Time for Kids
- Biography
- Reports
- Non-fiction picture books
- Historical fiction
- History books
- Pop Magazines
- National Geopgraphic
- Realistic Fiction
Each of these genres lend themselves to ways that kids can make connections to what is happening in the world today or in the past. These types of connections seem to be the ones that we make the least amount of, but it is still important to recognize them. You may not be reading a book at this time with your child that lends itself to these connections and that is o.k. See what type of connections you can make and identify them as either text to self, text to text, or text to world. Below you will find some examples of text to world connections based off of a few of the genres listed above.
| Time for Kids | Read: At the 2008 Beijing Games, in China, Michael Phelps set a record for the most gold medals won at a single Olympics and won the heart of America.
Connection: I got to see this guy in action this year in the summer Olympics on TV. |
| National Geographic for kids | Read: But all those plastic bottles use a lot of fossil fuels and pollute the environment.
Connection: I remember hearing once that it takes something like 200 years for plastic to decompose. |
| Non-fiction picture books | Read: The seals are dying because of the oil spills.
Connection: “I remember when a few years back when there was an oil spill on the coast of Florida and the pictures from it were disgusting. I can see how seals would die from that.” |
Take a look at some of the connections that you make with your child and jot them down.
P.S. I would love to hear about your connections, so just post them down in the comment section. This will help others with understanding the concept better.
What a great food-for-thought post! I have a 1st grader who is reading very well, but I never would have thought to time her. Perhaps I shouldn’t just yet…that’s all I need is another thing to possibly worry about!
But truly, what a great idea for a business…reading is soooo important, and for kids to have access to help if they need it, well, a little assistance now will make such a big difference in their lives. (Big book fan here, if you can’t tell!)
Yes, definitely do not time her. If she is reading really well and you know that she is understanding what she is reading, there is no need to time her. The schools will do that. However, if you are anything like me, you may be just a little bit curious. You could try it at the end of the year, just to see where she is at with the norm.