Girl reading a book
Making Connections can be as difficult or as easy as you make it for our upper elementary students. I like to use mentor texts to give my students a LOT of practice in order to help my students master understanding each type of connection, as well as help them provide a list of things that might help spark connections, such as movies, books, current events, and problems in our local area or throughout the world. 

If you are interested in snagging any of these books, click the picture to find it on Amazon. 

Mentor text with text "The Little Red Pen" and graphic organizer with text "Making Connections"

The Little Red Pen

I absolutely love to use The Little Red Pen for introducing my students to making connections. It is the perfect way for me to model my obsession with office supplies and the hours spent grading papers. The way that the characters talk to one another is entertaining and so fun to read!

Mentor text with text "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" and graphic organizer with text "Making Connections"

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

We’ve all had a bad day. We can all relate to the minor things that just rub us the wrong way on a bad day. This book is great for teaching your students that bad days happen and give them the opportunity to make connections. It is also great for discussing other books, movies, and real-life stories that stem from a bad day. 
Mentor text with text "Alexander, Who's Not (Do you hear me? I mean it!) Going to Move" and graphic organizer with text "Making Connections"

Alexander, Who’s Not Going to Move

I really like using this book to teach my students to make connections. I like to use it because many of my students cannot always make Text-to-Self Connections with this storyline. In this Alexander book, his family is moving across the country. He is NOT happy about it. In fact, he is refusing to move at all. This less-relatable book requires students to think of Text-to-Text and Text-to-World Connections. 
Mentor text with text "Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday" and graphic organizer with text "Making Connections"

Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday

Have you ever had a dollar and felt totally RICH?! I have and so has Alexander. When his grandparents give him a dollar he begins thinking about ALL the ways that he can spend his money. How long will it last? Well, about as long as a dollar lasts. Not too long. This is a silly book that we can ALL relate to! 

Click here for your FREE mentor text cheat sheet!

Do you love mentor texts as much as I do? Have trouble organizing them all?

Do you want to use mentor texts but you don’t know where to start?

I have a FREE Mentor Text Cheat Sheet for you! In this Google Sheet, you’ll find MY list of Mentor Texts and the reading skills that I use them to teach. You can add your own books, sort by author or reading skills, find shortcuts to my blog posts, AND

>>>my favorite feature<<<
>>>cue the drum roll, please<<<

Choose from a dropdown menu to show where you can find the book. For example, I use a boatload of mentor texts in my reading instruction. I can’t afford to buy them all. I find some in our school library, the local library, borrow from my teacher friends, and SOME of them, I do own!

Using the dropdown menu, you can easily remind yourself where you can find your mentor text when you need it! Click the image above OR click here to grab it.