One of the things we have been working on the last week has been inferences. What a tough thing to convey, but I think we are getting it.
One of my favorite things to do is throw up a few photos from the nationalgeographic.com site where there are more photos than you'd believe to select from. Every year I find a new couple of photos to use that get them thinking...now that I type this, I probably should use the same photos from year to year, but that would be too easy :O), and there is that fact that I kind of like looking at the photos.
I put the photo up on the smartboard and then go back and forth between the photo and this photo inference sheet. The biggest problem is getting them to see the difference between a prediction and an inference.... painful to begin with for sure.
The second inference sheet is one in which I do on day 2 of inferences. I put together a paper sack with a variety of items that will lead the class to infer who it may belong to. One at a time I pull out the evidence; cough drop, bike lock, snack, glasses case, and a reading medal and we together go over the evidence and fill out the chart together. As they work their way through the items they're able to piece together that it belongs to a second grade girl because of the evidence.
Hope these help.
