2nd Grade Reading Comprehension Lesson Plan - Inference

Name_________Susan Woodland Date_____________June 18, 2008

Juab School District

Instructional Strategies Template

Subject Area: Language Arts Grade Level: 2nd Core Curriculum Reference: St 7 Obj 2e

Standard: Students understand, interpret, and analyze narrative and informational grade level text.

Objective: Apply strategies to comprehend text

Letter: Make inferences and draw conclusions from text

Learning Target:

Big Rock Concept: Comprehension

Process Skill(s): Making Inferences about text and unknown words

Essential/Guiding Question(s): How can I use inference to understand what I am reading?

How can I use schema and textual clues to make inferences about words I don’t know when I am reading? How can I better comprehend books I read at home using the inference strategy?

Cue Set: Read the story Oliver Button is a Sissy by Tomie dePaola or Chrysanthemum by Kevin Hinkes (Ask yourself a couple of questions about the title or the picture on the cover of either book or the feelings of the characters. Think out loud as you are reading to students.)

Modeling/Teaching: Post chart, “What Good Readers Do”. Explain that good readers will make inferences about text and unknown words using their schema and other words in the sentences.

Some authors give you clues about something in the story but don’t tell you directly what was intended. This happens in books a lot. When you figure out the information from the clues you are inferring.

*Start with several book covers or pictures. Ask students what you can infer from facial expressions, the coloring, objects in the pictures, or the setting etc. Show them how you can make inferences about what the story or book might be about. You may even be able to infer things about the characters or the setting etc,.

Guided Practice: Bring students together and read the book Where Are You Going, Manyoni by Catherine Stock. Start by rereading the title and asking the students where they think Manyoni is going. Write their predictions. Read a few pages and show students your thinking as you come to a word you don’t know. Show how you infer meaning by using your own schema and the words around the unknown word. Make a chart about the inferences the class made about where she was going and any words that they didn’t know. At the end of the story read the glossary and see if their inferences about the words were right. (See attached chart)

Independent Practice: Pair the students together with a book that you have several copies of. Tell each group to start reading the story and when they come to a place that they can infer something about the character, setting or what will happen in the book, put a sticky note there and write what the group was thinking. Find 2 or 3 words that the group didn’t know and put a sticky note by the word. Write on the sticky note what the group inferred about the meaning of the word by looking at other words in the sentences and tell why. Have each group share.

Checking For Understanding:

*Pass out a set of 3 or 4 passages and have the students be the detectives to infer the meaning of the passages.

*Write 3 or 4 passages using unfamiliar words and have students infer the meaning from other words in the sentences

*Student responses in group setting

*Pair share

Active Participation:

Reading in small groups

Pair and sharing ideas about books read

Make a chart for unknown words

Closure: Give students poems from the book Creatures of the Earth , Sea, and Sky by Georgia Heard. Have students study the poems and infer the meaning of the poem. Then fill out a 2 column note worksheet. They could act out the poem when it is their turn to share.

*Ask students how inference helped them understand the story. Ask how their schema was able to help them with inferring things about the stories they read or the unknown words they found.

Other strategies for this standard/objective:

*Read the book “How Many Days to America” by Eve Bunting. Help children infer what is happening.

*Pair children up and let them do a picture walk through a book. Write their predictions about the book and then read it. Share with group

Books for teaching Inferring

Creatures of Earth, Sea, and Sky by Georgia Heard

Fireflies by Julie Brinkloe

Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting

For the Good of the Earth and Sun by Georgia Heard

Grandfather Twilight by Barbara Berger

How Many Days to America? By Eve Bunting

If you Listen by Charlotte Zolotow

Miss Maggie by Cynthis Rylant

Mother Earth, Father Sky by Jane Yolen

Oliver Button Is a Sissy by Tomie dePaola

The Royal Bee by Frances Park and Ginger Park

Something Beautiful by Sharon Dennis Wyeth

Where Are You Going, Manyoni? By Catherine Stock

Winter Fox by Catherine Stock

(This is a list generated by Debbie Miller. It is printed in her book Reading with Meaning p.121

Inferring

Name ___________________________

*Read this passage:

Pat sat at the front of the table with a big smile on his face. His family and friends sang a song to him. Then he blew out seven candles on the cake. After they ate the cake, Pat opened the presents that everyone had given him. He said that this was his favorite day. He thanked everyone as they left.

*After reading this passage, list 3 things that you inferred about what was happening.

1.____________________________________________________________________

2.____________________________________________________________________

3.____________________________________________________________________

What words helped you figure out what was happening?

*You Be the Detective

Ken reached into his pocket and took out some change. He stood in front of the machine and looked at the lighted buttons. Then he inserted the coins into the slot and pushed one of the buttons. When a can fell down into the dispenser, Ken took it out, pulled up the ring on the top of the can with his finger, and then put the can to his lips.

What is Ken doing? Circle the correct answer.

Ken was buying a candy bar at the grocery store.

Ken was buying a meal at a fast food restaurant.

Ken was buying a can of pop from a vending machine.

What words helped you figure out what he was doing?

Inferring

Name___________________________________________________

*You be the Detective

Jerry scooped up a handful of snow and packed it into a ball. Then he put it down on the ground and began to push it around the yard. The snowball got bigger and bigger. Then Jerry made another ball and repeated the procedure. The second ball was smaller than the first. Jerry and his brother lifted the second snowball on top of the first one. They put an even smaller one on top of that. Then Jerry got some stones, a carrot, and a knitted scarf and put it onto the top snowball.

*What was Jerry doing? Circle the correct answer.

1. He was having a snowball fight.

2. He was building a snowman.

3. He was snowboarding.

What helped you figure out what Jerry was doing?

*Read the passage.

Joe went into the garage and got a bucket. He filled it with water and added soap. Then he got a sponge and dropped it into the bucket. He carried the bucket of soapy water outside and set it down. Then he took the sponge and began wiping it against his father’s car. When he was done with the sponge, he took the garden hose and rinsed off the soapy water. Then he put the hose, bucket and sponge away.

*What was Joe doing? Circle the correct answer.

1. He was washing the sidewalk.

2. He was washing the car.

3. He was washing his bike.

Write down five words that helped you infer what Joe was doing.

______________________________________________________________________________

Inferring

Name _______________________________________________

*Read this passage

Brandon’s mother pushed him in a chair with wheels on it down a sidewalk. There were cages along the sidewalk. She pushed his chair up to one of the cages. Brandon looked at the monkeys. They were acting very funny and making lots of noise. Down the sidewalk a little ways they saw a tiger. He was growling. Brandon told his mother that he was having fun. He wanted to come back again.

*List 2 things that you inferred about Brandon and where he was.

*What helped you figure out where Brandon was?

*Read this passage.

The room was very small. Karl sat in a chair facing a window. The window had a hole in it to talk through. He was wearing a uniform. When it was evening, the people walked up to the window and ask Karl for something. He would ask them if they wanted one for an adult or a child. They would give him some money and he would give them what they asked for. From where Karl was sitting he could smell the popcorn as it popped. He could see the people buying the popcorn. He liked working here.

*From this passage what did you infer about Karl and what he was doing?

*What words helped you figure out what Karl was doing?

Inferring

Name______________________________________________

*Read these sentences and figure out the meaning of the underlined word.

1. I was so excited because it was Christmas Eve. I walked down the stairs and peered into the front room. I could see the Christmas tree lights and all the presents that Santa had left for us.

Peered means to ________________________________________________________

What words helped you figure it out?__________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

2. My friend fell and broke his leg. It was urgent that he be taken to the hospital. The ambulance came very fast and soon he was on his way.

Urgent means _____________________________________________________________

What words helped you figure it out?

3. We hurried to the bus to find a seat. We looked around and all the seats were occupied.

There were already many people standing. We didn’t know what to do.

Occupied means _____________________________________________________________

What words helped you figure it out?

______________________________________________________________________________

Inferring

Name_________________________________________________________

*Read these sentences and figure out what the underlined words mean.

1. I looked out the window and was surprised to see the snow. The sun was shining and the snow glistened. It looked like there were millions of diamonds on the ground.

Glistened means ____________________________________________________

What words helped you figure it out?

2. John and Jerry were running down the hall. They knew it was against the school rules. Mrs. May the principal stopped then and reprimanded the boys for running in the school.

Reprimanded means ________________________________________________________

What words helped you figure it out?

3. My tumbling teacher taught me to do a back flip and the splits. She said that I was very flexible. It was easy for me to bend backwards. I could go down in the splits without any trouble.

Flexible means _____________________________________________________________

What words helped you figure it out?

Name___________________________________________________

Inferring for meaning with poetry

_____________________________________________________________________________

I am a ______________________ ___________________________

I swim in the sea,

Flipping and shining. ___________________________

Can you see me?

Now you do ___________________________

And now you don’t

Try and catch me- ___________________________