Making Inferences

Sorry that I've been MIA since August. I've been going through a rough patch in my personal life, but it's been getting better. So, I'M BACK! 

I wanted to blog on the reading skill I've been teaching this week! It's such an important skill for students to grasp, and it's realllllly important for students to use evidence (quotes) from the text to support their answers. I MAY or may not have used this for my recent observation...;)

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.1
Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

Part 1: Reviewing the definition

>Make sure your students understand what two components are needed to make an inference (clues from the text and what they already know). Students need to understand that an inference is an educated guess about something in the text that isn't directly stated.

>When I taught my lesson on making inferences, many students in one of my classes came in with the misconception that making inferences was the same as making a prediction. It's important to address that they are two completely different reading skills!

>I used the BrainPop Jr. "Making Inferences" video to review the definition of inferring with my students. Make sure that you set a purpose for watching a video with your students. I made it clear before the video began that my students should focus on filling out notes on the two components needed to make an inference, as well as what an inference is.

Part 2: Creating connections

>Have you used the skill of inferring in language arts earlier in the year? You probably have!! Remind students that they make inferences when they come up with character traits, the theme of a story, etc.

>Have students come up with examples of how they have used the skill of inferring in different content areas!

>Explain how students will use this skill in the real world/in a future career. 

Part 3: Practice (multimedia and text examples)

Multimedia-I found the following video after a quick YouTube search. I absolutely loved it, and my students were able to make some great inferences with it. However, it is a pretty intense video, so make sure it's appropriate for your students before using it in your classroom!  I also had students focus on the theme of the commercial (during the second time it plays) to tie in some prior learning.

Text-Using the "I Do, We Do, You Do" strategy, we practiced making inferences and supporting them with evidence from the text. We used passages from my "Making Inferences for Older Kids" product (below). I used the "You Do" responses as an exit slip/formative assessment for the lesson.

Part 4: Creating Pieces of Writing

>So, after some more practice making inferences from the text on day numero dos, my students began creating their own pieces of writing. I assigned each student a different place (ex: bowling alley, the rainforest, at a football game, etc.) to create a piece of writing about. Then, they had to create a skit that included enough clues for other students to be able to infer the location they were writing about. 

{I had kids act out my example skits first-as a hook}

>I posted a tutorial on Google Classroom that showed my students how to create their own Google Story Builder video that they then uploaded to their blogs/shared with the class. The class successfully made inferences on their locations. My students LOVED Google Story Builder, and even kept working on it when the bell rang for recess-Say what?!?! 

Here is the example I showed my students before they began making their own video clips:

Inference Writing Example Using Google Story Builder

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I'm also linking up with Farley's November Currently.  It's been a little while since I've done one of these...