Some things I have noticed about your inferences:

1. Take time to THINK about what you are learning in the passage. Don’t rush. Some people didn’t make the best inference on number 2. Go back and look again.

2. Most people did a pretty good job explaining your thinking for part B of the questions. Here is how you take it to the next step: Include a piece of personal experience.

For example: For number 1, many of you wrote that you knew Kathy was sad because she walked with her shoulders slumped and stared at the ground. That is good you picked this out, but HOW DO YOU KNOW that means Kathy is sad? Simply telling me that it means she is sad is not enough. HOW do you KNOW??

Directions: Read the following passages and make an inference about the character’s feelings. Explain how you arrived at this inference.

1. A crowd gathered around Mrs. Kurstings’ door almost the moment she posted the list. Brandi peeked around the door of an empty classroom, scanning the crowd for Kathy’s face. Kathy had worked so hard to be a cheerleader. If she didn’t make the squad, well…Brandi didn’t even want to think about it. Just then, Brandi spotted her friend walking slowly away from Mrs. Kurstings’ door. Kathy’s shoulders were slumped, and her eyes were on the floor.

A. What inference can you make?

I think Kathy feels disappointed.

B. How did you arrive at this inference? What was your thought process to get you there?

I think Kathy feels disappointed. She must not have made the squad. The clues are in the way she walks. Based on experience, I know that people get excited when they are chosen to be cheerleaders. Kathy seems sad rather than excited.

2. Ron was shivering, his face was white, and he walked slowly as though it ached to move.

A. What inference can you make?

Ron was not feeling well.

B. How did you arrive at this inference? What was your thought process to get you there?

I know this because people who are sick sometimes shiver and usually lose color in their face—this boy’s face was white. Also, when I am sick I do not have any energy and I just want to sleep and lay around. This boy was walking slowly which helped me make the inference he is sick.

3. One classmate is making good progress on her math worksheet. She moves from one problem to the next, focused and working at a good pace. Another classmate scratches her head and keeps erasing her work. If you had a question about a math problem on the worksheet, which classmate would you approach for help? Why?

Tip: Who seems to be completely the worksheet confidently? What do you know +what you learn=inference

A. What inference can you make?

The first student understands the math worksheet, but the second student seems to be having trouble. I would ask the first student for help.

B. How did you arrive at this inference? What was your thought process to get you there?

When I am working on work for school, I know that if I understand what I am doing, I can make good progress on the task. I will be focused and I will work consistently. But if I am having trouble, it will become hard to focus, I will appear frustrated, and I will do a lot of erasing.

Challenge

There was a great deal of conversation, about rain and about his family. He was very proud of his large family. Finally we got down to business. Yes, he would sell, as he had agreed, for twelve hundred dollars, in cash. We would buy, and the money was ready. “Don Anselmo,” I said to him in Spanish, “we have made discovery. You remember that we sent that surveyor, that engineer, up there to survey your land so as to make the deed. Well, he finds that you own more than eight acres. He tells us that your land extends across the river and that you own almost twice as much as you thought.” He didn’t know that. “And now, Don Anselmo,” I added, “these Americans are buena gente, they are good people, and they are willing to pay you for the additional land as well, at the same rate per acre, so that instead of twelve hundred dollars you will get almost twice as much, and the money is here for you.”

Answers—He is the lawyer who represents the interests of the buyers. He is respectful, direct, and professional. I know this because lawyers are respectful and work hard to make things happen for the people they represent. On TV I have watched many shows that have lawyers, and they always work as hard as they can to represent the people they are working for.