While most of the country is Common Core aligned, Texas bases its standards on the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, otherwise known as the TEKS. Our standardized test is called the STARR. In it, a vast majority of the questions require 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders to use their background knowledge in combination with what the author has told them to make pedictions, or inferences, about the text. The problem is, how do STARR test writers know what background knowledge children have? How do you write inferencing questions that ensure the background knowledge required to answer them is the background knowledge that most 3rd through 5th graders have?
As a reading specialist, I provide support in a 3rd and 4th grade classroom this year. I have been on the look out for ways to make teaching inferencing easy. So many teachers have told me it's a hard skill to apply, and that it may not be developmentally appropriate. Unfortunately, we still have to teach it. Here are some things I've found that might help:
1. The other day I was reading the book The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle to my daughter. I noticed an opportunity to reach inferencing using this very simple book. As the spider is building her web and the animals come to invite her to do things, there is a fly flying around on every page. Based on what we know about how spiders catch their food, and knowing the text shows us she is building a web, what can we infer will happen to the fly? Sometimes teaching a hard concept using simple books will help make it more attainable to kids.
2. I really liked this activity I found on havefunteaching.com. again, it is something simple that the teacher can later tie to text.
These are just two resources I've found that have made me think of ways to simplify the concept of inferencing so that kids get it. I'm sure as the year progresses I will find more ways to teach this complicated concept. I will be sure to share these here!
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