The Work of Making Connections

Up until now my class has been following a scope and sequence for Reader's Workshop. This scope and sequence has been one that I compiled from many sources through my own professional reading this summer. Up until this point it has been pretty heavy with print strategies, reading for meaning, and story elements. However, now it is time... for making connections. (Let me preface by saying that I have made connections during my read alouds, it shouldn't be foreign to my students, they have heard the language) My thoughts are mixed, it is so exciting to teach this portion of the workshop, but it is a huge part! I feel like a drum roll should occur and we should toast this work. But, I also feel a heavy burden of responsibility. I want to make sure they understand, I don't want to jump in and roll without taking my time.
Here are my plans:
Monday: A review of metacognition. We have touched on this and the kids know the phrase, "listen to the voice that you hear as you are reading." But I also want to introduce schema. I am going to do this by showing them bits of paper that contain my background knowledge. I'll use a lint roller to roll up my schema. The roller is my brain, and the bits of paper are my schema. Schema sticks in our brain. I'll model using my schema during read aloud during this time.
Tuesday and Wednesday: I have chosen some books and wrote down my own connections on post-its. I will have a huge piece of chart paper that we will post all of these post-it onto. Later we'll take the post its and make decisions based on text to self, text to text, and text to world.

Here is some language that I really want to see my pumpkins using:
I made a connection...
It reminds me of ...
My prior knowledge...
When I was thinking about my own thinking...
The voice said...

I will teach this unit slowly. I want to make all the connections at first and leave them thirsty to make their own. I was thinking that this unit could take 4 weeks, maybe longer.

Okay, discussing this with you all makes me feel more confident, more prepared, and not so nervous.
I'll keep you posted.