Teaching Inferencing to 3rd Graders

[CherubKeeper]

Hello everyone! I was wondering if any of you had any ideas to teach inferencing to 3rd graders. I'm a "teacher candidate" at a local elementary school, which means that I have yet to receive my Gold Card, nor have I enough credits to do my student teaching. That said, I have been asked to teach a fun lesson on Tuesday to my students and I have no clue how to approach this. Do any of you have any ideas as how to teach inferencing? Thanks in advance!

CherubKeeper

 

[ILtcher]

inferencing...

We've been working on this in my 4th grade classroom. Here's what I did first....

I explained the word "infer" to the kids. I told them that sometimes an author doesn't "say it all" in words and we have to use this strategy to figure out what they mean. We have to use what we already know to infer the author's meaning sometimes. We can also infer how others' are feeling without even saying any words. We played a game where I pinned an emotion on a students back such as "disappointed". The other students had to give clues about that word like "I felt this way when I couldn't stay all night at my friend's house". We continued giving clues until the student with the word on his back guessed it. They loved to infer this way!

I also read the book aloud called "Tight Times" to them. (Sorry, I don't have the author right now.) This story is filled with areas to infer both with the text and pictures.

This is often a tough strategy to teach....especially for struggling readers. There's lots of ideas in the teacher resource book called "Strategies That Work".

Good luck to you!

 

[CherubKeeper]

ILtcher,

Thank you so very much for taking the time to respond! Forgive me for taking four forevers to get back to you. I've been running here and there and battling burnout. That said, wouldn't you know, I didn't have to teach inferencing today because my cherubs are busy playing catch-up! Poor lil' puddin's didn't even get to go to recess today! Your ideas are GREAT, and please don't mind if I use them! I'm going to play that game with them, and, as an intro (because I'm a chic teacher ) I'm going to intro the lesson with this:

(The shortened version)

"The Coffin"
Author Long Forgotten

A man had been travelling for days and days from California to Georgia (or wherever, as long as it's far). He was so tired from driving that he decided to check into a hotel. The hotel looked as though it had been abandoned for ages. He parked his car and rapped lightly on the door. Slowwwwwwly, it creaked open (Have the cherubs help with the sound effects). From nowhere, he heard a wheezing voice whisper "Come in". He did. "Um, sir? I've come for a room. (insert gulping noise here, like he's afraid". "Very well. Room 423 (pick a number, it doesn't matter)." A rusty key slides across the floor and he picks it up. He makes his way to his room and takes a shower. While he is in the shower, he hears whispering, but he decides to ignore it. He gets out of the shower and climbs into bed. He closes his eyes and falls asleep. (Insert cartoon-ish snoring here...Again, have the cherubs to help with the sound effects, as it keeps them enthralled). Suddenly, he hears movement and he opens his eyes. In the darkness, he hears a coffin coming across the floor. He pulls the covers over his eyes. The coffin gets closer...and closer...and closer... Quickly, he reaches into the nightstand drawer and grabs the only thing he could find: a handful of cough drops. As the coffin gets closer, it reaches the end of the bed. The man throws the cough drops at the approaching coffin and...

What happens next?

Wait for it...

Ready?

THE COFFIN STOPPED!!!!! (Please don't throw your tomatoes!)

Hey, I'm not a comedian, but I know funny. I remember hearing that story when I was in the 3rd grade and never forgot it! I can't remember the name of the book that it came from, but still, I thought it would be kind of cute as a lead-in to inferencing. (Still laughing) So, combined with your idea and my corny little story, do you think that would be OK? Thanks!

 

[Cherubkeeper]

Come to think of it, I'm getting senile! I totally messed up the story, as is evident when I googled "coffin stopped"! !! Ah well, the gist is the same! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to work on my delivery of my corny lil' story!

 

[Lucy]

Fun Idea

Find large pictures in magazines. Like close ups. Tear out the whole page.
Rubber cement it to the inside of a file folder. After you have decided what parts of the pcture you want to reveal to give the kids clues on the front of the folder cut small flaps where you decided to reveal. Number the flaps. 1 being the one that doesn't tell them anything. As they open each flap they get more clues. The last flap should be a part of the picture that might give it away. I hope I have explained this so you understand.

 

[Cherub Keeper]

Lucy,

What a fun idea! I didn't think of that! That would be awesome! I'm thinking of adding that to my repetoire for next week, too! Wow, my cherubs are going to have a blast! Thanks so much for the great idea!

Cherub Keeper

 

[Shantelle]

Lucy's Message

I'm confused. I thought that inferencing was taking what you know(background knowledge) and what the text says to make predictions and draw conclusions. Are you putting pieces of text on the outside of these folders? Do you have an example? It sounds cute, but I'm presenting this in front of my faculty and I want to make sure I totally understand what inferencing is. Thanks

 

[Dvnryan3]

inferencing

I am confused... I get the example as to writing down an emotion and having the children give clues so the other child can guess the emotion . My thing is I am a parent with a 3rd grader struggling with this. I thought infer meant to "read between the lines" and it is a very hard subject to teach but I really like the example above if anyone has anymore suggestions feel free to reply!! Thanks dvnryan3@yahoo.com