Thinking Routines / Connect, Extend, Challenge
Connect, Extend, Challenge
Tie today's lesson to what they already knew, name what it pushed further, and admit what still does not fit. The best plenary routine there is.
Opens on the whiteboard to model with the class · no sign-up · printing is optional
The sheet it prints — optional
What is the Connect, Extend, Challenge thinking routine?
Connect, Extend, Challenge is a thinking routine used after new learning. Children say how it connects to what they already knew, how it extended their thinking, and what still challenges or confuses them. It works as a plenary in any subject.
How do you run Connect, Extend, Challenge with a class?
Give it the last ten minutes rather than the last two. Take connections first, because that is the easiest entry. Extensions next. Then ask for challenges and wait through the silence — the first honest one gives everybody else permission.
Why is the Challenge column so useful?
Because it is the only part of a lesson where children are rewarded for saying they do not understand. What appears there is a free list of misconceptions, in their words, which is more accurate than anything you would have guessed from marking their books.
Nobody fills in the Challenge column honestly the first three or four times you run it, because admitting confusion in front of thirty people is a big ask. What broke it in my class was writing mine up first — a real one, not a fake one. 'I still cannot picture how the water gets back up into the clouds.' Once a teacher has said something like that out loud, the column fills. Skip that step and you will get 'nothing, miss' for a term.
Which subjects does Connect, Extend, Challenge suit?
Any lesson that added something to what a class already had.
- Science — after a demonstration or an investigation.
- History — after a period that overlaps something they studied before.
- Maths — after a method that extends one they already use.
- Reading — after a chapter that changed what they thought of somebody.
What usually goes wrong with Connect, Extend, Challenge?
The Challenge column stays empty, because admitting confusion in front of thirty people is a genuine risk. It fills only once somebody with authority has gone first, so write your own honest challenge on the board before you ask for theirs.
Which year groups is Connect, Extend, Challenge for?
Connect, Extend, Challenge suits Year 3 upwards, grade 2 in the US. Younger children manage Connect easily and find Extend abstract, so with Years 1 and 2 run it as just two columns: what it reminded you of, and what you are still wondering.
What do you do with it afterwards?
Read the Challenge column before you plan the next lesson. It is a list of misconceptions in the children's own words, which is more accurate than anything marking will tell you, and specific enough to teach against directly rather than reteaching the whole thing.
How often should you use Connect, Extend, Challenge?
As often as you have a lesson worth closing properly — once or twice a week. It replaces the plenary rather than adding to it, so it costs nothing extra in time, and the Challenge column stays honest as long as it is not used every single day.
| Year group | US grade | What to change | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
| Years 3–4 | Grades 2–3 | Two columns: reminded me of / still wondering. | 8 min |
| Years 5–6 | Grades 4–5 | All three. Model a challenge of your own first. | 10–12 min |
| Year 7 and up | Grade 6+ | Written individually, then compared in pairs. | 15 min |
Connect, Extend, Challenge compared with Think, Puzzle, Explore
They are the same idea at opposite ends of a topic. Think, Puzzle, Explore opens it by surfacing what a class thinks it already knows. Connect, Extend, Challenge closes it by asking what moved. Running both on the same topic makes the change visible.
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Where this routine comes from: the Connect, Extend, Challenge thinking routine was developed by Project Zero, a research center at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Sage Teachers is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Harvard University or Project Zero. The prompts and the wording on this page are our own.