making personal connections

During our fairy tale unit on Little Red Riding Hood, one of our lessons focused on making connections. The fairy tale unit was specifically on fractured fairy tales. I introduced making connections when I read a fractured version of the original Little Red Riding Hood, and talked about ways that it differed. I read another fractured version aloud and stopped periodically to make a personal connection to something in my own life. I modeled this several times throughout the story. Next, we did a class activity practicing modeling connections. I said a statement, and someone made a personal connection to what I said and then stood next to me. Another student would have to make a personal connection to what the previous student had said, and then came up and stood next to them. We continued until every student had a chance to make a personal connection to something someone else had said. Later in the lesson, I read aloud another fractured fairy tale, and students had to make two personal connections to something they heard in the story.