Lesson Summary:The teacher will pre-assess students by having them read a passage that requires them to draw two conclusions/inferences. Students will then draw conclusions/inferences about a “neighbor” based on objects found at the neighbor’s house. Next, they will practice drawing conclusions/inferences from text. In pairs,students will read a story, write out text clues, and answer multiple-choice questions. For continued practice, on-level students will read another story and independently answer questions that require them to draw conclusions/inferences from the text. Advanced students will read a different story, answer open-ended questions,and write an extension of the story they read. The teacher will show struggling students a PowerPoint in which they will draw conclusions/inferencesabout different characters in pictures. Then,s/he will guide themthroughthe process of using a graphic organizer to draw conclusions/inferences from a story.
Lesson Understandings:
The students will know…
- That authors sometimes require readers to draw their own conclusions/inferences.
- That they think about what they know and what they read to help them draw conclusions/inferences.
- Use text evidence to draw logical conclusions/inferences.
Learning Styles Targeted:
Visual / Auditory / Kinesthetic/Tactile
Pre-Assessment:Give each student a copy of the Pre-Assessment* worksheet. Tell students to read the story and write their responses to the questions on the spaces below. Once students have finished answering the questions, walk around and see how they answered the questions. Tell students to keep their papers because they will review the answers during the lesson.
Whole-Class Instruction
Materials Needed:an empty box of dog treats, an empty box of diapers, an empty box of hair dye, an empty box of kid’s cereal, Teaching Points PowerPoint*, an LCD projector,1 highlighter for each student, 1 magnifying glass sheet* per pair of students, 1 copy of the “Vera and Paulineshia” story* per pair of students, writing utensils, 1 copy of “Cave Explorers”*per student
Procedure:
1)Tell students that you have a neighbor that you don’t know. Tell students that you have never met or seen the neighbor, but you know someone lives there. Tell students that today, they are going to be detectives and help you figure out more about this person.
2)Tell students that you found some items that were discarded outside of your neighbor’s house, and you brought them in for students to see. Show students the various items. (Suggested items include an empty box of dog treats, an empty box of diapers, an empty box of hair dye, and an empty box of kid’s cereal.) Tell students that they are going to help you examine the neighbor’s items to learn more about your neighbor.
3)Show the empty box of dog treats. Ask students why a person would have a box of dog treats and elicit responses.Students should say, “Because they have a dog.” Show each of the remaining items and ask students to draw conclusions/inferences about the unknown neighbor based on the items. Record these responses on the whiteboard.
4)Tell students that they have just drawn their own conclusions/inferences about your neighbor. Ask students for ideas of who your neighbor might be and elicit responses. Students may say a parent, mom, and/or dad. Tell students that today, they are going to practice drawing conclusions/inferences. Tell students that in order to be good reading detectives, they need to learn how to draw conclusions/inferences.
5)Project the second slide of the Teaching Points PowerPoint and read it aloud to students. Ask students what the word “details” means and elicit responses.Students should say something like the “specific parts of the story.”
6)Project the third slide of the Teaching Points PowerPoint and read it aloud to students.
7)Tell students that they are going to review the passage from the pre-assessment. Give each student a highlighter. Project the fourth slide of the Teaching Points PowerPoint and read aloud the passage to students. Ask students what they wrote for the first answer and elicit responses. Students should say “winter.” Ask students how they knew the answer was winter and elicit responses. Remind students to give you text clues/details. Students should point out that Clune tells Sam it is cold outside, and Clune is wearing mittens, a scarf, and a coat, which are all examples of winter weather clothing. Students may also point out that there is snow outside, and there is snow outside in winter. As students point out the text clues in the passage, have them highlight the specific sentences that helped them get the answer.Ask students what they wrote for the second answer and elicit responses. Students should say “a snowman.” Ask students how they knew the answer was “snowman” and elicit responses. Students should point out that Sam and Clune are building something with snow that is made up of three balls. Students should also point out that Sam and Clune also need a pair of arms, a nose, buttons, eyes, and a mouth, which snowmen have.Students may also say that it is winter, and people build snowmen in wintertime.Again, students should highlight the specific text evidence that led them to get the answer. If necessary, project the fifth slide and point out the underlined or highlighted text evidence/clues to students.
8)Project the sixth slide, and have students read the passage silently. Ask students what they can conclude about why glass and juice got all over the floor. First, ask students why glass and juice would be together.Students should say “a glass of juice.” If students struggle, ask them if they had juice this morning, and if so, ask them if they had it in a glass, leading them to see that there was a glass of juice. Ask students why Caitlin would say, “Oh no!” Students should say because she did something that she didn’t mean to do. If students struggle, ask them why they would say, “Oh no,” leading students to see that Caitlin said this because she did something she didn’t mean to do. Next, ask students why Caitlin would need to get a paper towel, a broom, and a dustpan. If students struggle, ask them when they need to get a paper towel, a broom, and a dustpan, leading students to see that Caitlin got these things in order to clean up her broken glass and spilled juice. Have students put these three clues together (a glass of juice being on the floor, Caitlin saying, “Oh no,” and Caitlin gettingcleaning materials), and elicit responses about how the glass and juice ended up on the floor. Students should say that Caitlin spilled a glass of juice and broke the glass.
9)Project the seventh slide, and repeat the same procedure to find out how Caitlin feels.Students should say that “Caitlin feels badly” or “Caitlin feels upset.”
10) Tell students that you are going to put them into detective pairs. Tell students it is their job to read the passage and use thetext clues todraw conclusions/inferences and answer the questions.Tell students they need to write out the clues on their magnifying glass.
11) Put students into pairs and give each pair a magnifying glass and a copy of “Vera and Paulineshia.” Model an example for students by going over the first question with them. Read the first paragraph of “Vera and Paulineshia” to students and then read the question. Ask students why they usually look at their watches and elicit responses.Students should say, “To find out what time it is.” Ask students if there is more evidence to support this answer, and elicit responses.Students should point out that Paulineshia thinks, “Only 10 more minutes,” which indicates that she found out what time it is by looking at her watch.
12) Project the third slide of the Teaching Points PowerPoint so students can use it as a reference. Monitor students while they work. If students struggle, help them find the text evidence for the answer and use their own knowledge to draw a logical conclusion/inference. Once all students have finished, you may want to collect their magnifying glass sheets and story sheets for a grade or you may want to review them with the class.
13) For continued practice, have on-level students work independently on the “Cave Explorers” story. Encourage students to highlight the text evidence for each question.
Advanced Learner
Materials Needed:1 copy of “Betty”* for each student, writing utensils, 1 piece of notebook paper per student
Procedure:
1)Give each student a copy of “Betty.” Have students read the passage independently and answer the questions.
2)To challenge students, have them write a continuation of the story on a piece of notebook paper. Students could either write about Betty and Lita’s lunch or their afternoon at Lita’s house. Encourage students to require the reader to draw at least one conclusion/inference.
3)When students have finished, you may want students to pair up and share their story endings with one another.
Struggling Learner
Materials Needed:Struggling PowerPoint*, 1 copy of the graphic organizer* per student, 1 copy of the “Cave Explorers” story*per student, writing utensils
Procedure:
1)Project the first slide of the Struggling PowerPoint. Ask students how the woman in the picture looks, and elicit responses.Students should say “happy.” Ask students how they knew, and elicit responses.Students should say she is smiling, and usually when people are smiling, they are happy.
2)Continue this procedure for the second, third, fourth, and fifth slides, asking students for the answer and asking how they know the answer.Students should say “c” for slide 2, “d” for slide 3, “a” for slide 4, and “a” for slide 5.
3)Tell students that they have just drawn conclusions/inferences by looking at the pictures and using what they know to find the answer. Remind students that they draw conclusions/inferences all of the time in their real lives (e.g.,guessing how a friend is feeling, buying someone a birthday gift, etc.)
4)Tell students that they are going to read a story together and use a graphic organizer to answer some questions about the story.
Note: The “Cave Explorers” story is also used in the on-level activity. However, in the struggling learners’ activity, the students fill out a graphic organizer to find text evidence and receive more guidance.
5)Give each student a copy of “Cave Explorers” and a graphic organizer. Read the story and first question aloud to students. Tell students to refer to the column that says “What I Read” to help answer the first question. Ask students why they think Julio can’t see. Ask students what they know about the setting (an imaginary cave). Ask students what they know about caves, and elicit responses. (Students should say that caves are dark.) Ask students if there is any text evidence for David having bad vision, closing his eyes, or forgetting his glasses, and elicit responses. (Students should say, “No.”) Ask students if there is any text evidence that shows Julio and David can’t see because it’s too dark, and elicit responses. (Students should point to David whispering, “How did you forget to bring the flashlight?” and “I can’t see anything!” and David’s mom saying, “Why are the lights turned off?”) Have students record this response under the “What I Read” column. Ask students to record “The imaginary cave is dark” under the “Conclusions/Inferences” section.
6)Repeat this procedure for the remaining questions. Have students fill out both columns of the graphic organizer before choosing an answer to the question. Tell students that if they struggle, they can also use process of elimination by seeing if there is text evidence for any of the answer choices. Tell students that if there is text evidence, then it is probably a logical conclusion/inference.
*see supplemental resources
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