What does it mean to INFER?

Good readers make inferences, or conclusions, as they read.  It’s an important skill for understanding text, as authors often imply themes and ideas, without stating them outright.  During our first discussion about inferencing, I made a mean and nasty face and said, “Pretend I’m your mom and you just asked me for something.  Are you going to get it?”  “NOOOOOOOOO!” came the loud answer.  How did you know?  What led you to believe that you had NO chance at getting what you wanted?  J  Easy.  Next, we talked about what they know about me.  They had a ton of things to say...and they were all quite accurate and meaningful.  I then produced my backpack and asked them to think about what might be inside.  After thinking about it, everyone had a chance to tell me one thing they thought was in my backpack.  It was fantastic!  They came up with a lot of great items and were right about most of them.  (Yes, I really have a toothpaste and toothbrush in there!)  Today, I put a picture in our morning message and had them write about what they thought was going on.  We reviewed our previous inferencing lessons and then wrote about our thoughts.  Bravo 4^th graders!  Tomorrow, we share what we wrote today during our PM POWWOW.

Good Morning!

I hope you had a spectacular weekend!

Get out your WN and start thinking about this picture.  What do you think is happening?  What is going to happen next?  Remember to use EVIDENCE to make your inferences.  This is what we did when you figured out what was in my backpack!  Use clues in the picture!