A post full of inferring fun!

Hi friends! I hope that each of you are enjoying your weekend, I know I am.  I'm currently cuddled up on the coach with my two sweet pups getting ready to watch some Christmas movies. :)

Aren't they precious? I sure do love them. :)

This past week, my kiddos and I hit inferencing hard core during our reading block.  I LOVE teaching inferencing because of all the fun things you can do with it!  There are lots of freebies scattered throughout this post! One from me and many from my favorite blogging buddies. I hope they can be of use to you! :)

We made the Treasures vocabulary story into an anchor chart and used the inference thinking stems throughout the week from my sweet friend Amanda's Reading Strategies Thinking Stems Pack!

It made my teacher heart so happy to hear my kiddos use language like "I infer", "It could be that", and "Perhaps" when they shared their responses to questions to questions involving inferring throughout the week.  

Each day, we started our reading block by making some inferences from this AWESOME freebie from Primarily Speaking and recording them in our reading journals. 

Source: primarily-speaking.blogspot.com via Lisa on Pinterest

  

My students and I loved these holiday themed cards! :) The organizer is from my Christmas Themed Graphic Organizer Pack. We don't have time for a lot of fun holiday activities in fourth grade, so I have to sneak in holiday fun where we can, even if it's just clipart on graphic organizer. :)  I have pulled the inferencing organizer out of the pack to share with you as a freebie.  Just click {here} to download your own freebie copy!

  

We practiced making inferences with our main story, Dear Mr. Winston, and after reading the story, we completed a reader's response question in our readers response journals. 

You can download the freebie I use to organize my kiddos responses for their indepedent reading {here}.  To save time/energy we also include our whole group reader's response questions for our weekly stories, gotta practice those extended responses in the testing grades, in them as well. :) 

On Wednesday, I gave my kiddos a quick formative assessment, and then used Rachel's awesome task cards to create a tiered lesson for inferences later in the week.  Students that were at mastery and beyond completed Rachel's inferencing task cards for grades 3-6.  Click on the pictures to check them out on TpT. 

I LOVE Rachel's task cards and so do my kiddos and I was so happy to see there were two sets so I could differentiate my lesson!

  

Students that needed more support/weren't at the mastery level completed her grades 1-2 cards. 

  

I've used a handful of each set before, so I pulled out six cards that I haven't used from each pack to use, since were running short on time. Students sat with other students who were completing the same set of task cards at our tables and this worked perfectly, the kids were so focused, on task, and were having fun! :) They did great and I'll be grading their recording sheet for a grade. My kids love these cards because they are so different from a worksheet.  I've used Rachel's cards in a scoot format, in small groups, and discussed them as a whole class. 

We also did a fun inferencing activity with SHOES! :) My girls were in heaven. :)

My kiddos had so much fun with this activity.  They looked at pictures of various shoes and then made inferences about their owners/who wore that shoe.  They LOVED this and I heard so many GREAT discussions about inferences each table.  If you'd like to do this activity with your class, I've uploaded it to my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  Just click on any of the pics below to check it out! :)

My kiddos even insisted on doing this activity several times, making sure they got different cards each time! The especially loved the snow boot! I heard everything from the belonged to Pocahontas to an Eskimo or a trendy girl who likes to wear UGGS.  ;)  

Before I go, I just wanted to share with you some of my favorite freebies from some of my dear blogging buddies that I like to use when teaching inferencing.  Some I used last year in second grade and some I used this year/both.  :)  Happy Inferencing! 

From my sweet friend Michelle who I spent the day shopping with today. :)  My second graders loved these cards last year!

Source: fabulousinfirst.blogspot.com via Lisa on Pinterest

From my sweet, sweet blogging pal, Amanda.  This baby was a lifesaver the last time we did studied inferencing and I was out with a sub! :)

Source: teacherspayteachers.com via Lisa on Pinterest

From sweet, sweet Abby, who I had the pleasure of meeting earlier this year.  My second graders LOVED this activity last year.  :) I need to remember to do this again this year the next time we study inferencing. :)

Source: theinspiredapple.blogspot.com via Lisa on Pinterest

Have a great night and enjoy the rest of your weekend! :)