How to Teach Inference to the Fourth Grade

Students can make inferences in groups, discussing ideas and sharing conclusions.

Teaching fourth graders to make inferences while reading can be done through modeling your questioning and thinking processes while reading. Inferencing is a strategy used in reading comprehension in which readers use clues from the story and their own background information to figure out details of the story that the author implies.

Things You'll Need

• Picture that portrays a story
• Grade level books
• Graphic organizers or self-stick notes

Instructions

1. Introduce the concept of inference to your students by showing them a picture that portrays a story. Any picture that provides clues as to what may be happening will work. Ask the students to describe what is happening in this picture. Have them record their answers in their notebooks. Next, ask students how they came up with their answers. Explain that the clues they used from the picture, added to what they already know from life experience, allowed them to make inferences, or guesses, about what was happening in the picture.

2. Model your thinking process as you read aloud from a book such as "Smoky Night" by Eve Bunting. Use comments such as "I know (fill in information) from the book, and I know (fill in information) from my brain, so (fill in information) must be true.

3. Ask students to write down any inferences they make while you read aloud. Good books to use for this activity include "Too Many Tamales" by Gary Soto and "Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing" by Judi Barrett. To remind students how to make an inference, provide them with a graphic organizer to record their inferences. The graphic organizer should have a space to record clues from the story, students' prior knowledge and their conclusion. Students could record inferences on self-stick notes instead of a graphic organizer.

4. Have the students work in pairs, and using a book that you have modeled, have them list inferences they have made. Ask the students to provide the clue from the text and their background knowledge that they used to make the inference. Have them record this information on a graphic organizer or in a notebook.

5. Asses students' understanding of inferencing by asking inferential questions on a quiz. These questions should ask students to provide answers that are not given in the text or pictured in an illustration. The students should use clues from the context and background information to get the correct answer.

Tips & Warnings

• Provide frequent opportunities for students to hear you model inference strategies as you read aloud.

References

• Wake County Public School System: Grade 4 Student Lessons
• Mandy Gregory: Inferencing Mini Lessons
• Hamline: Exploring the Teaching of Inference Skills
• Teacher Vision: Inferences

Resources

• Study Zone: New York State Elementary Test Prep
• Wake County Public School System: Grade 4 Student Lessons