"That's Just Like Me!" — Making Connections

While reading, the child links the story to their own life — a feeling they’ve had, a place they’ve been, a thing that happened to them. These personal connections are the glue that makes a story stick and makes sense.

  1. Choose a book that touches the child’s world — starting school, a new sibling, losing a toy, a scary night, a trip to the doctor.

  2. As you read, pause at a feeling or event and wonder aloud first, modeling the move: “This reminds me of when I lost my keys and felt so worried.” Then invite them: “Has anything like that ever happened to you?”

  3. Use open prompts — “When have you felt like that?” “What does this remind you of?” “We did something like this, didn’t we?”

  4. The key step: loop the connection back to the story. After “That’s like my first day at school!” add, “So how do you think she’s feeling right now — like you felt?” The connection should deepen understanding, not hijack the book.

  5. Keep it to two or three rich moments. Not every page needs a connection.

Variation: for an unfamiliar topic (snow, a farm, a hospital), build the bridge first — a quick chat or a photo — because a child can’t connect to an experience they’ve never had. Once text-to-self is easy, extend to “What other book is this like?” (text-to-text).

Requirements

  • Space: Any cozy reading spot
  • Surface: None needed
  • Materials: Books that mirror the child's real experiences and feelings; family photos can prime connections
  • Participants: 1 adult + 1 child; siblings each bring different connections, which is lovely
  • Supervision: Light

Rationale & Objective

Comprehension is the active fitting of new information into what the child already knows — the “schema” of Anderson & Pearson (1984). A personal connection literally switches on the schema the child uses to interpret the story, so events feel meaningful rather than abstract. “Making connections” (text-to-self, text-to-text, text-to-world) is one of the comprehension strategies popularized by Keene & Zimmermann (Mosaic of Thought, 1997) and Harvey & Goudvis (Strategies That Work), grounded in the comprehension-strategy research synthesized by Dole, Duffy, Roehler & Pearson (1991). Background knowledge is a powerful driver of comprehension — vividly illustrated by Recht & Leslie’s (1988) finding that children who knew baseball understood a baseball passage better regardless of reading level (a single striking study, not the last word), and central to E. D. Hirsch’s (2003) argument that comprehension depends on “knowledge of words and the world.” For a 5-year-old listening to a story, connecting it to lived experience is the most accessible of these strategies and the on-ramp to richer comprehension.

Progress Indicators

  • Early: connections are loose or off-topic (“I have a dog too” on any dog page); doesn’t link the connection back to how the character feels or what’s happening
  • Developing: offers a relevant memory when prompted (“I was scared at the doctor too”); needs the adult to tie it back to the story; connects objects more than feelings or events
  • Proficient: makes meaningful connections without prompting and uses them to understand the character (“she’s nervous like I was”); connects feelings and situations, not just objects
  • Advanced: connects to feelings, events, and other books (“this is like the other bear story”); uses connections to predict and infer (“I bet he feels left out — I did when…”); notices how the character’s experience differs from their own

Safety Notes

  • Personal connections can surface big or sad memories (a pet that died, a scary event) — follow the child’s lead, validate the feeling, and don’t push if they go quiet
  • Be thoughtful with books on heavy themes (loss, separation, hospital); gauge readiness and keep the tone warm and safe
  • Don’t pry — “has that happened to you?” is an invitation, not a demand, and some days the answer is “no,” which is fine
  • A purely seated, conversational activity with no physical risk

Hints

  • Playfulness: share your own funny or embarrassing connections too (“I cried when I lost MY balloon!”). When connecting is a two-way swap of stories, the child opens up.
  • Sustain interest: choose books that match what’s happening in the child’s life right now — a new baby, a lost tooth, a first sleepover. Relevance is what makes connections flow.
  • Common mistake: letting a connection run away with the whole reading so the story is forgotten, or collecting connections like trophies without linking them back to the text. Always return to “so how does that help us understand the character?”
  • Limited space / no equipment: no materials needed — connect to a story told from memory, a song, or events on a walk (“remember when that happened to us?”). The skill travels anywhere.
  • Cross-domain: naming shared feelings builds emotional literacy and empathy; recalling personal events builds autobiographical memory and narrative; comparing self to character supports perspective-taking; talking it through grows oral language.
  • Progression: connect an object (“I have one too”) → connect an event (“that happened to me”) → connect a feeling (“I felt that way”) → link the connection back to the character → connect across two books → use connections to infer and predict.

Sources

  • Anderson, R. C. & Pearson, P. D. (1984). “A schema-theoretic view of basic processes in reading comprehension.” In Handbook of Reading Research (Vol. 1, pp. 255–291). Longman
  • Keene, E. O. & Zimmermann, S. (1997/2007). Mosaic of Thought: The Power of Comprehension Strategy Instruction. Heinemann
  • Harvey, S. & Goudvis, A. (2017). Strategies That Work: Teaching Comprehension for Engagement, Understanding, and Building Knowledge (3rd ed.). Stenhouse
  • Dole, J. A., Duffy, G. G., Roehler, L. R. & Pearson, P. D. (1991). “Moving from the old to the new: Research on reading comprehension instruction.” Review of Educational Research, 61(2), 239–264
  • Recht, D. R. & Leslie, L. (1988). “Effect of prior knowledge on good and poor readers’ memory of text.” Journal of Educational Psychology, 80(1), 16–20
  • Hirsch, E. D. (2003). “Reading comprehension requires knowledge—of words and the world.” American Educator, 27(1)
  • Common Core RL.K.1 (ask and answer questions) and RL.K.9 (compare the experiences of characters in familiar stories)
  • UK EYFS — Comprehension ELG (discussions about stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems)
  • Teaching Strategies GOLD Objective 18a (interacts during read-alouds and book conversations)