Making Inferences - Explanations and Conclusions based on Evidence

We are about to dive headlong into a very sophisticated thing that humans do all the time: making inferences.  We are naturally good at making conclusions based on observations.  You smell smoke and the fire alarm goes off in the kitchen. Oops! You left something on the stove for too long.  We make these kind of conclusions all the time.  We don't have explicit, direct knowledge of what's happening but we can figure it out quickly.  So it should be easy when we read, right?  Well, kind of.  

Young readers, like the students int Room 5 often need some guidance and some practice.  Fortunately, there is a genre tailor-made for the art of the inference - mysteries.  And so we are digging in. Students found every mystery in our class library and we made a special collection.  Thanks to my brilliant colleagues, we now have a set of tracking forms that students will use to identify the features of a mystery.  Our readers will assemble clues as they read their mysteries drawing conclusions and backing them up with evidence.

Here are some ways you can join the learning at home.  

Reading Rockets is a fantastic resource for early literacy learning. They have this great collection of resources for families looking to dig into inferential thinking.

The Multnomah County Library is an amazing institution.  I am a dedicated fan and use the library resources almost daily, either online or with actual books.  There's a good chance that a book your child has enjoyed this year was checked out from the library.  They also have lots of great recommended books lists like this one of elementary level mysteries.  Make it a family event and head to the library for some new mysteries!