Beee-lieve It or Not, Inferences can BEE for Primary Students

Beee-lieve It or Not, Inferences can BEE for Primary Students

Inferences?  Seriously?  In Kindergarten?

The first time I thought about teaching my kinders about inferencing, it was completely by accident. That's right...by accident.  We were reading The Knight at Dawn and Jack was hanging from the castle precipice and the students were hanging on every word.

"Jack felt his fingers slipping.  Then down he fell.
Down through the darkness.
SPLASH!"

"Oh, no!  What happened to Jack?" I asked.  "He fell in the moat!" a chorus of kindergartners yelled. "How do you know that?" I asked again.  "The book said, splash," answered a student.  I continued, " What if it said THUNK?"  Another student chimed in, "Then he would have fallen on the ground." Yep, that's what it's all about.

SOOOO...

Beee-lieve It or Not, Inferences can BEE for Primary Students
Let's look at pictures first...no text.  When the students were listening to the story, they weren't focusing on the text, they were focusing on the story.  Likewise, using pictures is an easy way to start a lesson with inferencing.  Using a portion of a picture, ask the students what they know FROM THE PICTURE.  Once they have thought about the picture...expand the view.
Now, ask them again.  Ask the same questions and ask if they could tell a better story.  Using several sets of pictures and LOTS of oral practice, the students will be making inferences all over the place.

Using the Text

Finally, introduce students to making inferences using text.  Using 3 sets of clues and 3 pictures, students can use the text to help decide which picture the text describing.  (Check out the example in the blog title picture.)


If you'd like a full set of Inferences for Primary Students, click the link or picture.

Enjoy.  Don't forget, we can't put limitations on our kinders before we put tools in their hands.






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