LESSON FOUR: Making Inferences

 

LESSON DESCRIPTION

Students make basic inferences about problems and solutions.

 

GRADE-LEVEL EXPECTATIONS ADDRESSED

R3C         Develop and apply skills and strategies to comprehend, analyze and evaluate nonfiction from a variety of cultures and times: Text elements

 

LESSON MATERIALS

 

§         Sources of Literature

o        Monkeys for Sale by Sanna Stanley

o        On Sand Island by Jacqueline Briggs Martin

 

§         Supplies

o        Chart paper

o        Sticky notes

 

§         Handouts provided

o        T-chart graphic organizer

o        Inference checklist

 

§         Words to know

o        graphic organizer

o        infer

 

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

Using the teacher inference checklist, teacher observes students to identify individual contributions to possible inferred solutions to the identified problem.

 

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

1.        Say to students, “Have you ever left a homework assignment at school?  How did you solve that problem? How did you figure that out?  Sometimes when we read we need to figure things out or ‘infer’.  We use information from our own experiences or from books we read to help us figure things out. We call this inferring.”

 

2.        Do a “picture walk” through the book.  Read the book aloud to students after the problem becomes evident.  Ask students what clue helped them infer what the problem is.  Record the problem on one side of a class T-chart graphic organizer.

 

Questions

for

Students

Do you think there will be a problem in this story? 

What problem do you think might occur?

What clues in the story helped you infer possible solutions?

 

3.        In cooperative groups students brainstorm possible solutions to the problem and record ideas for possible solutions on sticky notes on the Class Problem/Solution Chart.  Then finish the book and compare the author’s solutions to the students’ solutions.

 

Suggestions

 

If the selected book is too long to be read aloud within the allotted time, the teacher may choose to summarize the book. =

If students need more practice in the skill of inferring, the following examples may be used on a class T-chart:

  • If a car pulls up to the gas station,

               Then_______________________.

                (Problem:  The car may be out of gas.)

  • If I fall on the playground,

               Then________________

               (Problem:  I may have a scrape on my knee.)

  • If it’s raining outside,

               Then____________

               (Problem:  I may need to find my umbrella. I may have to play inside.)