Instructional Strategy: Connect 4 Thinking – eb support

Pair students with peers to brainstorm ideas and guide them in forming connections. Provide simple sentence frames such as “A similar word is ___.” “This picture shows ___.” or “This is like ___.” Allow students to draw or point to visuals to express their thinking.

Use guiding questions to help students build connections (e.g., “What word means the same or opposite?” or “What is something similar in real life?”). Provide frames such as “A synonym is ___ because ___.”

Provide frames for more detailed explanations such as “This concept connects to ___ because ___.” or “An analogy for this is ___, which shows ___.” Encourage students to compare ideas and give feedback during discussion.

Encourage students to lead discussions and deepen their connections by exploring more complex relationships such as compare-contrast, cause-effect, or part-whole relationships.

Challenge students to synthesize multiple connections, explain how ideas relate across concepts or disciplines, and justify their reasoning using precise academic language and examples.