Making Connections — Year 5
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Making Connections — Year 5 is a complete one-week English unit for explicitly teaching the comprehension strategy of connecting. Students learn to make text-to-self, text-to-text and text-to-world connections, but the focus goes further than naming a category: every strong response begins with an exact text detail and explains how the connection changes or deepens understanding.
The native editable presentation models the strategy with clear examples, sentence stems and surface-versus-deep comparisons. Two colourful games build confident oral practice. Low-ink worksheets then sequence students from supported classification to independent evidence selection and explanation across narrative, informational and poetry texts.
The final three-page Connections in Context assessment asks students to transfer the strategy to fresh texts. Ten matching answer pages place red answers directly in the original response spaces, and the five-level Making Meaningful Connections rubric supports consistent feedback.
What's Included
33-page unit plan PDF with one branded Table of Contents page and 32 classroom resource/answer pages
18-slide editable PowerPoint presentation
22-slide editable PowerPoint quiz with ten question-and-answer pairs
Making Connections Display
Connection Quest: board, two card sheets and response tracker
This Reminds Me: instruction mat, four-in-a-row board and two scenario-card sheets
Surface or Deep? two-page worksheet plus answers
Three Ways to Connect two-page differentiated worksheet plus answers
Connect and Reflect two-page poetry response plus answers
Connection Evidence Lab two-page text-evidence practice plus answers
Independent Reading Connection Log
Connections in Context three-page assessment plus answers
Making Meaningful Connections five-level rubric
Learning Focus
Recognise text-to-self, text-to-text and text-to-world connections
Locate the word, sentence or event that triggers a connection
Distinguish surface similarities from deep, relevant connections
Explain how a connection supports inference, theme, message or understanding
Apply the strategy to narrative, informational and poetry texts
Evaluate and reflect on the strength of a response
Classroom Use
Use the editable presentation for whole-class teaching, the display and games for guided or collaborative practice, the worksheets for support/core/extension learning, the reading log for independent transfer, and the assessment and rubric for evidence of learning. The sequence is designed for approximately five lessons, with flexible additional practice.
Year / Subject / Topic
Year level: Year 5 Subject: English Topic: Reading comprehension — making connections
Curriculum Alignment
Australian Curriculum v9.0 AC9E5LY05
Australian Curriculum v8.4 ACELY1703
Victorian Curriculum 2.0 VC2E5LY09
NSW English K–10 EN3-OLC-01, EN3-RECOM-01, EN3-UARL-01, EN3-UARL-02
Western Australian Curriculum WA5ELYA3
Common Core State Standards CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.5.4.c, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.1, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.8, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.1, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.5.4.a, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.5.4.a, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.5.5, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.5.5.a, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.5.5.b, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.5.5.c, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.5.4.b, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.10, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.10, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.1.a, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.2, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.3, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.7, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.8, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.9, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.9.a, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.9.b, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.10
UK National Curriculum UK-UKS2-ENG-R-C, UK-UKS2-Y6-ENG-SPK
New Zealand Curriculum NZ-Y5-ENG-OL-C-CM-1, NZ-Y6-ENG-OL-C-CM-1, NZ-Y5-ENG-OL-C-IUE-1, NZ-Y6-ENG-OL-C-IUE-1
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills TEKS-ELAR-G5-3, TEKS-ELAR-G5-3B, TEKS-ELAR-G5-4, TEKS-ELAR-G5-6, TEKS-ELAR-G5-6A, TEKS-ELAR-G5-6B, TEKS-ELAR-G5-6C, TEKS-ELAR-G5-6D, TEKS-ELAR-G5-6E, TEKS-ELAR-G5-6F, TEKS-ELAR-G5-6G, TEKS-ELAR-G5-6H, TEKS-ELAR-G5-6I, TEKS-ELAR-G5-7, TEKS-ELAR-G5-7A, TEKS-ELAR-G5-7B, TEKS-ELAR-G5-7C, TEKS-ELAR-G5-7D, TEKS-ELAR-G5-7E, TEKS-ELAR-G5-7G, TEKS-ELAR-G5-9B, TEKS-ELAR-G5-9D, TEKS-ELAR-G5-10, TEKS-ELAR-G5-10A, TEKS-ELAR-G5-10D, TEKS-ELAR-G5-10G, TEKS-ELAR-G5-11B, TEKS-ELAR-G5-11C, TEKS-ELAR-G5-11D, TEKS-ELAR-G5-13, TEKS-ELAR-G5-13A, TEKS-ELAR-G5-13B, TEKS-ELAR-G5-13E, TEKS-ELAR-G5-13F
Ontario Language Curriculum CAN-G5-LANG-C2.1, CAN-G5-LANG-C2.3, CAN-G5-LANG-C2.4, CAN-G5-LANG-C2.7, CAN-G5-LANG-C3.2, CAN-G5-LANG-B2.3, CAN-G5-LANG-C2.6, CAN-G5-LANG-C3.8
Formats, Page Count and Answers
PDF and editable PowerPoint files. 73 total pages/slides: a 33-page unit plan, an 18-slide presentation and a 22-slide quiz. Ten red-answer pages are included within the unit plan. The product is a digital download.
Teacher Benefits
One coherent sequence from explicit modelling to independent assessment
Fresh texts and examples across several genres
Support, core and extension opportunities
Low-ink practice pages with generous writing space
Collaborative game options and independent-reading transfer
Directly aligned answer pages and a five-level rubric
Digital Product and Licence
Digital product only; no physical item is shipped. Purchase permits use by one teacher with their own class. Do not redistribute, resell, share publicly or upload the files to an unrestricted website.
