A Birthday Mystery

Mystery box!

Wait a minute… Holes! Heavy! Moving! Scratching! Whimpering! A small bark?

It’s a birthday puppy!

What did you just do to solve the mystery of my birthday gift?

MAKING INFERENCES means Reading between the lines Schema + Text Clues = Inference

You may hear it called Infer –What can you infer about… Inferring –By saying the gift was a new puppy, you were inferring. Inference –Make an inference about… It is not guessing!

When will I EVER make an inference? You remember seeing a note go home to your mom in your take-home folder. The note was a reminder that picture day is tomorrow.

Cluing in… You wake up early for school. As you sit at the kitchen table eating breakfast, you hear your mom rummaging through your closet.

What can you infer from this? Finally ready to get dressed for your school day, you walk into your room and find your nicest shirt and slacks neatly pressed and laid out on your bed.

Let’s try these practices with a partner.

I see bubbles rising. I hear my own breathing. There are fish swimming above me. I feel the seaweed swaying. Can you infer where I am and what I am doing?

Scuba diving in the sea!

I hear screaming. My stomach feels funny. Can you see my hair blowing? I’m feeling excited! Can you infer where I am and what I am doing?

I’m on a roller coaster ride!

C an you infer what is shown in these mysterious pictures?

Be a reading detective! With your assigned group, rotate through the stations of microscopes. First, read each Making Inferences Case File booklet. Then take a look through the microscope lens. Use your schema, add it to the text clues given to you in the booklet, and make an inference about what is under the slide. Record your thinking and your inferences on your Detective Recording sheet.

MAKING INFERENCES means Reading between the lines Schema + Text Clues = Inference All images copyright 2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.