Making Connections in Fiction
This worksheet helps fourth-grade students practice making text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections while reading fiction.
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Making Connections in Fiction
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Read the passage below. Then, answer the questions by making connections to your own life, other books, or the world around you.
The Secret Garden
Mary Lennox was a difficult, sickly child who lived in India. When her parents died, she was sent to live with her uncle, Mr. Craven, at Misselthwaite Manor in England. Misselthwaite was a huge house with a hundred rooms, and Mary felt very alone. One day, while exploring the grounds, she discovered a secret garden, hidden behind a high wall. It had been locked up for ten years after Mr. Craven's wife passed away. Mary felt a strange pull to the garden, and with the help of a robin and a kindly gardener named Ben Weatherstaff, she found the key and a small door.
1. Have you ever felt lonely or out of place, like Mary did when she first arrived at Misselthwaite Manor? Describe a time when you felt this way.
2. Can you think of another story where a character discovers a hidden place or a secret? How is that secret place similar to or different from the secret garden?
3. The story mentions Mary's parents died, and she had to move. How do children in the real world cope with big changes or losses like this?
4. If you thought about how you felt when you moved to a new school, you would be making a connection.
5. If you remembered another book where a character found a magical object, you would be making a connection.
6. If you thought about how real gardens grow and change with the seasons, you would be making a connection.
7. What kind of connection are you making if you compare Mary's journey to England with a friend who moved from another country?
Text-to-Text
Text-to-Self
Text-to-World
No connection