Inferencing Ideas

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Archive : 2006 : January : 14

Inferencing Ideas
By Kristen_6th

I used an inferencing strategy from a Scholastic book called KIS. I just looked the book up- Comprehension Mini-Lessons: Inference & Cause and Effect. Anyways, the K is for Key Words, I is for Inference, and S is for support
or how the key words supported your inference. I first introduced what inferencing was by yawning and stretching and asking the kids how they thought I felt. Of course, they knew I was tired! Then I explained it is the same when you are reading. Sometimes the author doesn't tell you everything so you need to look for clues and figure it out. They need to "read between the lines".

Then, I introduced the strategy and read some poems from Reflections on a Gift from Watermelon Pickle. Bat, Giraffee, Apartment, Toaster, and Steam Shovel are good poems to use. Don't tell students the title- just read the poem and have the student try to figure out what they are talking about. For each poem, point out the key words that supported the poem's subject.

I did this lesson during writing time (we are doing a poetry unit) so then I had students think of their own topic and think about what key words they could use to describe it. I gave a form for struggling writers-
Smells like __________________.
Looks like ___________________.
Tastes like __________________.
Feels like ___________________.
Then, they just inserted a list of adjectives into each line. More advanced writers used another form we have learned about (such as rhyming couplets) or free verse. The kids did a really great job on these poems- one was about toast and described a burnt piece of toast. They loved sharing their poems and even reluctant poets could show off their ideas.

There are also paragraphs in the Mini-lesson book to use with this strategy. For example, one is about a library and talks about how there are kids there and they use a card to check out materials, etc. It got my small reading group thinking about how they can figure out things that authors don't come out and say!

The mini-lesson has more ideas too that look really good and I'm going to try some of them next week. Good luck!