How do we figure out meanings or make inferences when reading? Here's a great way to show your students how to take information + prior knowledge= understanding, aka inferencing.
One of the best ways to teach children these higher level thinking strategies is through picture books. Chris Van Allsburg is the king of inferring authors. He does a fantastic job of leading the reader to conclusions without actually revealing his true meanings. This allows the reader to "own" the ideas and conclusions of the story making it a fun and personal reading experience.
To introduce my young readers to inferencing, I have combined one of Chris Van Allsburg's famous books and its characters to help readers learn the true meaning of making inferences.
The book Two Bad Ants is a great pieces of quality literature that "shows" the reader without telling. The reader is left to make continual inferences in order to create meaning throughout the story. The use of text clues and illustrations provide the reader with useful information that when combined with students' prior knowledge helps them create new understandings. Combine this with a cute little toy ant and you have an inferencing icon.
First, we read the story all the way through without interruption. This allowed the students to hear the story as a whole.
The next day, I presented the students with a chart that included the inferred parts of the story written as questions. As we read, we looked for text evidence that gave us clues to the questions' answers. After we found enough text evidence to answer a question, we asked ourselves what we already know about the topic that could help us prove our answer even more. We included this prior knowledge to the chart. If this was enough to prove our answer, we wrote down our understanding/answer.
Here are the charts we used to help us make these continual inferences: (The formatting is off once added, but it gives you an idea of what we did.)
One of the best ways to teach children these higher level thinking strategies is through picture books. Chris Van Allsburg is the king of inferring authors. He does a fantastic job of leading the reader to conclusions without actually revealing his true meanings. This allows the reader to "own" the ideas and conclusions of the story making it a fun and personal reading experience.
To introduce my young readers to inferencing, I have combined one of Chris Van Allsburg's famous books and its characters to help readers learn the true meaning of making inferences.
The book Two Bad Ants is a great pieces of quality literature that "shows" the reader without telling. The reader is left to make continual inferences in order to create meaning throughout the story. The use of text clues and illustrations provide the reader with useful information that when combined with students' prior knowledge helps them create new understandings. Combine this with a cute little toy ant and you have an inferencing icon.
First, we read the story all the way through without interruption. This allowed the students to hear the story as a whole.
The next day, I presented the students with a chart that included the inferred parts of the story written as questions. As we read, we looked for text evidence that gave us clues to the questions' answers. After we found enough text evidence to answer a question, we asked ourselves what we already know about the topic that could help us prove our answer even more. We included this prior knowledge to the chart. If this was enough to prove our answer, we wrote down our understanding/answer.
Here are the charts we used to help us make these continual inferences: (The formatting is off once added, but it gives you an idea of what we did.)
We continued this process until all questions were answered. Many of my students found it difficult at first, but by using this chart it became easier to prove our answers using text evidence. It caused them to think deeply before jumping to conclusions.
Practicing this process together is key. As you go, try to give the students more independence, until they become comfortable using text evidence and prior knowledge to make inferences. There are so many great books out there that do a great job of requiring the reader make inferences.
Some great titles are:
K-1: Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young
2-3: Just a Dream by Chris Van Allsburg
4-5: Encounter by Jane Yolen
I plan to post our lessons and experiences with this story in the near future.
Give it a try! Let me know what you think.
Jenny :)
Practicing this process together is key. As you go, try to give the students more independence, until they become comfortable using text evidence and prior knowledge to make inferences. There are so many great books out there that do a great job of requiring the reader make inferences.
Some great titles are:
K-1: Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young
2-3: Just a Dream by Chris Van Allsburg
4-5: Encounter by Jane Yolen
I plan to post our lessons and experiences with this story in the near future.
Give it a try! Let me know what you think.
Jenny :)