Making Connections to Comprehend

Name:

Date:

📚 Part 1: Read and Answer

Read the short passage below, then answer the questions.

On the corner of Marsh Street the old community garden buzzed with life every Saturday. Neighbours brought seedlings, water cans and stories. Maya, who lived two streets away, always arrived with a small box of compost and a wide smile. Last summer the council painted the fence bright yellow and the corner felt warmer even on cool mornings. Sometimes grandparents taught children how to plant seeds, and sometimes students from the local high school helped build a new raised bed. The garden made the whole street feel like a team.

1. What is the main idea of the passage?

A small garden needs expensive tools to survive.

Neighbours working together make the community stronger.

Only students and grandparents visit the garden.

2. Which sentence best shows a feeling about the garden?

"Neighbours brought seedlings, water cans and stories."

"Last summer the council painted the fence bright yellow..."

"The garden made the whole street feel like a team."

3. Give one detail from the passage that shows where the story happens (place).

4. What does Maya do that helps the garden? Explain in one sentence.

🔗 Part 2: Making Connections (SELF, TEXT, WORLD)

Use the "making connections" strategy. For each prompt, write your connection and then explain how that connection helps you understand the passage better.

5. SELF connection — A time you helped or worked with others in your neighbourhood or school.

How does this memory help you understand Maya or the garden?

6. TEXT connection — Find another book, story or film that reminds you of this passage. Name it and describe one similarity.

How does that similarity change what you think about the characters or events in this passage?

7. WORLD connection — Think of something happening in your community, city or the world (e.g. local projects, news about neighbourhood programs). Describe it briefly.

How does connecting the passage to this real-world example deepen your understanding of why the garden matters?

8. Optional: Draw a picture that shows one of your connections to the garden (SELF, TEXT or WORLD).