Inference!

I recently DRA'ed my third graders and realized that some of them were lacking in the inference department. As a result, I developed the lesson below!

In my typical style, I began with an anchor chart. Firs,t we went over the meaning of an inference together, and students glued a copy of the chart into their reader's notebooks. Then, I began the modeling portion of the lesson by reading aloud The Sweetest Fig. If you have not read this book, you need to! The kids absolutely loved this book. They were really upset that the school library did not have a copy. In this book, a man has two figs that will make your dreams come true. With the first fig, he did not fully understand its power, but he vowed not to make the same mistake with the second fig. The ending is fantastic, but I won't spoil it for you.

I had already selected four text clues from the text and written them on the anchor chart. As I read aloud, we paused and recorded our inferences on the anchor chart. 

For the guided practice portion of the lesson, we used two of Shel Silverstein's poems. (This is based off of one of Debbie Miller's lessons.) I removed the titles of the poems before copying them. Students glued the poems into their reader's notebooks. 

We used notecards to cover up the remainder of the poem as we went line by line. We paused every line or two to make inferences. Students had to record their inference and underline the text clue that led them to their inference. When we had finished the entire poem, students made their final inference and provided their reasoning.

I was surprised how much the kids loved this part of the lesson. They also came up with amazing inferences. The poems I used by Shel Silverstein were Reflection and Magic Carpet. Click on the links to get your own copies of the poems!

For the independent practice part of the lesson, students read  Three Names. In this story, Great-Grandfather remembers his days in school with his dog Three Names.

Students glued a set of text clues into their reader's notebooks. As they read, they recorded their inferences.

If you would like a copy of the text clues for the story, click here!

As a final assessment, I had students complete a written response question requiring them to infer and provide support from the text.

I hope you find something helpful! How do you teach and incorporate inferring into your classrooms?

Inferring with Poetry

I found that my students were really struggling with inferring. They tend to take things very literally. I thought that poetry would be the very thing to expand their thinking. Interestingly, they unanimously decided that they loved poetry and since have requested more! The following lesson uses texts at a fourth-fifth grade level, but could be easily adapted for any grade level.

To begin, I read aloud one of my favorite poetry books: Fold Me a Poem. This book includes a variety of poems about making different origami animals.

Initially, I read aloud a few poems from the book to the students for enjoyment. Previously, I had copied one of the poems, "Camel," onto chart paper, but did not include the title. I read aloud the poem to the students and together we tried to figure out what animal the boy was making. We used highlighting tape to identify the clue that helped us identify the animal.

I always have students provide reasoning for their inferences. Next, we read two poems by Langston Hughes. His poems are challenging for students, but certainly not out of reach. The first poem we read was "Dreams."

Dreams

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

-Langston Hughes

First, we read aloud the poem together. Then students read the poem to themselves several times. Poems often take several readings to get a really good understanding. (Not to mention the help with fluency!) The students did not have a clue at first when reading this poem, but they really surprised me. One student came up with this insightful interpretation:

Students highlighted reasoning for their inferences. Next, we read "As I Grew Older," also by Langston Hughes, and "Listen to the Mustn'ts," by Shel Silverstein, following the same procedure. Shel Silverstein is a particular favorite of the students. The poem below really took some thinking. At first students thought the poem was just a conversation between a child and an adult. They were missing the message of the conversation. After multiple readings, they began to discover the deeper meaning. These poems also provided a great opportunity to discuss rhyming, similes, and metaphors.

We also discussed how poetry deals a lot with feelings. The following poem is called "The Teakettle's Song." It is from a past Highlights magazine and can be found at www.infohio.org. The poem talks about how a kettle was thrown away to the junkyard, but eventually found a new home. As with the other poems, students highlighted evidence for their inferences. This time, however, they were providing evidence for feelings.

 

Since I found out the students loved Shel Silverstein so much, we completed the same procedure for his poem "Us." This poem is about two people who are stuck together, and how one is annoyed with the other. The students really thought that was hilarious. Initially the students were not used to the fact that there might be more than one interpretation to the poem. The important part was that students could provide reasoning for their thinking. Once they really got into it, students truly enjoyed inferring with poetry. I plan to include much more poetry in my lessons from now on!

Infer Meaning of Unknown Words

Our district uses the RTI model. This lesson was used with a group of "Tier 3" 5th graders. For those unfamiliar with RTI, "Tier 3" refers to the last level of intervention before special education referral. This lesson is based on a lesson from Debbie Miller's Reading with Meaning. (One of my favorite books! A wonderful wealth of resources!)

To begin, the students and I discussed ways to figure out unknown words in text. We came up with the following: use the pictures, what we already know, and other words in the text. I recorded these ideas on our anchor chart.

Then, I read aloud the book The Knight Who Was Afraid of the Dark. This book is full of wonderful, descriptive words for students to infer with. It is also very funny, which the kids really enjoy.

As we read, we identified unknown words in the text and added these to our anchor chart. We inferred the meaning of these words and identified what clues we used to infer. The students correctly inferred the meanings of most of the words. 

The following day, we began reading The Singing Man. This book contains many great words for students to infer with. Students independently read a few pages and identified unknown words. They used the graphic organizer below to infer the meanings of these words. Then we discussed the text and students' inferences together.

The graphic organizer can be found at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Inferring-Meaning-of-New-Words. Here is a look at one student's work after the first day:

For independent practice, students read the short story "Just a Girl." (found at www.infohio.org) This story describes how a young girl in Yemen proves to her father that she deserves to attend school. Students completed the graphic organizer to infer the meaning of unknown words independently with this story.