lesson 6

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

Learning Intention: WALT make inferences when we are reading a poem about nature.

Success Criteria:

I can:

• infer the author’s feelings about natural vs. man-made objects.

• use text clues to support my inferences.

• explain how figurative language contributes to meaning.

Introduction 

Ask: “Have you ever looked at something in nature and thought it was more beautiful than something people made?”

Write down student responses

• Introduce the poem. Briefly explain that Christina Rossetti compares natural things like rainbows and clouds with human-made things like ships and bridges.

• Define inferring: “An inference is a conclusion you make based on what the text says and what you already know.”

Read the following 

Poem Text (for reference)

The Rainbow by Christina Rossetti

Boats sail on the rivers,
And ships sail on the seas;
But clouds that sail across the sky
Are prettier far than these.

There are bridges on the rivers,
As pretty as you please;
But the bow that bridges heaven,
And overtops the trees,
And builds a road from earth to sky,
Is prettier far than these.

Hook: Ask students:

First Read 

• Read the poem aloud once. Then have students follow along and read it silently or in pairs.

3. Guided Inference Practice 

Use a chart like the following and model one inference:

Text Clue                                                                                       What I Know

"Clouds that sail across the sky"                                       Clouds don’t actually sail, but                                                                                                                            move gently across the sky.

My inference: I think the author thinks clouds are____________________________________________

Ask students to help complete a second example with the line:
“But the bow that bridges heaven...Is prettier far than these.”

Have students find at least two more lines and make inferences using text clues.

Share some student inferences aloud.

• Ask: “What do you think Christina Rossetti is trying to say about nature?”

• Conclude: Sometimes authors don’t tell us directly how they feel—they show us through comparisons and details.

 Do you think the author prefers man made structures or nature? Why?

Extension';

Students to make comparisons of nature versus man made structure

For example: A flower to a painting

                     A tall tree to a tall building