Making Connections

As a fifth grade teacher, one of the reading comprehension strategies that I taught kids was making connections to oneself, another text, or to something larger in the world. In the last couple of weeks I've been amazed to watch Jack begin making these connections at 21 months.

Jack loves picture books that have every photo labeled. I call them kiddie encyclopedias. Jack was recently thumbing through one of those books when he came to a photograph of an orange cat. He pointed at it and said, "Abra," which is the name of Grandma and Grandpa's foster kitty. Jack was making a text to self connection. He was telling me how that book related to his own life in a very basic way. I didn't think a whole lot of this event until the next event happened. We get lots of catalogs in the mail. We call this Jack's mail. He was looking through one of those catalogs when he came to a picture of Buzz Lightyear. Jack has never seen Toy Story, but he has a book that he calls Knock, Knock. When he came to the picture in the catalog, he said, "Knock, Knock." Jack connected one text to another.

I've always been interested in child development and so I've read lots and lots of books about the topic, yet I've never read anything about children at this age having comprehension strategies. I don't believe this is because Jack is the only child who makes these connections. I just think it's a neglected age group when talking about reading comprehension. I find it completely fascinating to see Jack turning into a reader. I feel as if all my years of education and educating now have more purpose because I am raising my own reader.