lesson 2

Objective: Good readers are good thinkers. They make inferences when reading to help make sense of the text and gain deeper understanding.

Learning Intention: WALT make inferences when we are reading.

Success Criteria:

I can:

• identify text clues.

• use my prior knowledge to decipher text clues.

• make inferences to help me better understand a text

Explicit Teaching:

Go over inferring lesson from yesterday.

Ask the following questions

What is an inference?  

What does it mean to infer?  

How do we infer?  

Show anchor chart about inferring. 

Text clues + prior knowledge = inference. 

An inference is a smart guess we make based on what the text says and what we already know.

Example:

“The toddler looked at the empty cone and then down at the scoop of ice cream on the ground. The toddler’s lip was trembling and his eyes welled up with tears.”

Ask: What can we infer?

Students to visualise the above event and write down their inferences.

Read a Short Passage Together:

Maria slammed her locker shut and stomped down the hallway. She didn’t say a word to her friend who was calling after her.

Students to visualise what they have read

Ask:

• What clues do we see? 1 slammed locker 2_______________3______________

• What do we already know? (People act this way when they are feeling…….)

• What’s the inference? (Maria is……….)

• 
  

Have students explain their thinking using the formula:

“I infer ___ because the text says ___ and I know ___.”

Independent Practice (10–15 min)

Display 3 short passages with space to write inferences. Example:

Michael's hands were shaking as he walked to the front of the classroom with his report. His voice trembled as he began to speak.

Patricia stepped back from the colourful canvas, she titled her head on one side and surveyed the painting.There was only one thing left to do. She picked up the paintbrush and boldly signed her name in the bottom left hand corner.

Max gripped the handle of the cricket bat, making sure the grip was correct. It was now or never. He took a deep breath and muttered "you got this." He stared resolutely down the pitch at the bowler.

Prompt:

• What can you infer?

• What are the text clues?

• What do you know that helped you make the inference?

 Students to read the following text and make their inferences

HOPE IS THE THING

  WITH FEATHERS

Hope is the thing with feathers-

That perches on the soul-

And sings the tune without the

words-

And never stops- at all-

And sweetest - in the gale- is 

heard-

And sore must be the storm-

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm-

I've heard it in the chillest land-

And on the strangest Sea-

Yet -never- in Extremity.

It asked a crumb -of me.

Emily Dickenson

What animal is the poet using as a metaphor for hope?

How has she described the feeling of hope?

Where does the poet say hope lives?

Is there a message about hope?

How does the poet convey this message?

How did inferring help engage you, as a reader, with the poem?

Discuss the benefits of activating prior knowledge with class