Subject: Reading / Grade Level(s): 4-5
Teacher: / Time Frame: 60 minutes
Lesson Summary:
Students will be able to make inferences and draw conclusions from text.
Lesson Objectives
The students will know how to…· Draw conclusions based on facts and evidence in text.
· Make inferences or conclusions based on evidence implied in text and their own prior knowledge and experience.
The students will be able to…
· Draw conclusions and make inferences from text by using their powers of reasoning.
Lesson Plan
Time: / Procedure: / Materials Needed:
10 minutes / Warm-up Exercise:
Display slide 2 and define making inferences or conclusions. Read aloud the sample sentence, invite students to make their own inference, and discuss as a group the students’ responses about what Katie must have been doing. Then walk through the clues and explanations shared at the bottom of the slide.
Display slide 3 and have students practice making an inference based on a whole paragraph. Invite them to share their inferences, and check to see how close they are to each other. / Computer connected to a projector; PowerPoint presentation, slides 2 and 3
5 minutes / Motivation (real-world Applications):
Imagine that you had a friend who was never late and she said she would be over at 4:00 p.m. to do homework with you. If at 4:30 she still wasn’t there, what would you think? (Had something happened to her? Maybe she got sick?)
In using what you know about your friend to think of a reason why she might be late, you are making an inference. Your prior knowledge of your friend tells you she is normally not late. But the evidence you have is that she is late. So you make the inference that something happened that is preventing her from calling you.
In real life and when reading, you often have to use what you already know in combination with new evidence to fully understand what is happening.
10 minutes / Presentation of New Material:
Explain to students that to draw a conclusion or inference, they must act as detectives and study the text for evidence or clues. They will then put together the clues and combine them with what they already know to make a judgment, an idea for a conclusion or inference.
Have students read the paragraph on slide 4 and answer the questions that follow on slides 4 and 6. Then have students make an inference about what might have happened to Tanitha next. / Computer connected to a projector; PowerPoint presentation, slides 4-7
10 minutes / Guided Practice:
Have students work with partners to answer the questions on slides 8 through 13. Refer to the correct answers on slides 14-19 as needed. / Computer connected to a projector; PowerPoint presentation, slides 8-19
20 minutes / Independent Practice:
Since the Guided Practice was a retelling of Cinderella, have students write a brief retelling of another well-known story, focusing on the main character. Encourage students to make at least two inferences about what this character might have done or said.
5 minutes / Closing Activities:
With the group, share an event from your own life, such as during your college years, but stop short of sharing the “ending.” Ask students to make inferences about what must have happened next, based on knowing you and combined with clues from your story.
Homework: Have students think of their favorite movie and write the inference they would make about what would most likely have happened had the movie continued for ten more minutes. Students’ inferences should be based on what they already know about the movie, combined with clues they picked up near the end.
Differentiation: Have students who need extra support work in small groups and complete an extra Study Island worksheet on Conclusions and Inferences, discussing each question and how to arrive at the correct answer. Have students who are advanced in this skill write short passages and compose questions on conclusions and inferences to go with the passages. Then have them trade passage/question sets and answer the questions.
Teacher Reflection:
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