Making+Predictions+and+Inferences

= Making Predictions and Inferences =

**Why is it important to make predictions and inferences?** Reading is one of the most complex practices one can engage in as it involves so many areas of the brain. Making predictions is more than just guessing what will happen next. Instead, it ensures active reading is occuring and keeps interest levels high throughout the story. Making inferences takes that active reading one step further as it requires the reader to draw on his or her own personal experiences and make an educated guess about something that is not explicitly stated in the text. This helps make reading a more intimate and personal experience. Different lives, backgrounds and reading pasts will color an individual's experience of any given text.

**What is the difference between predictions and inferences?** When students make a **prediction**, they are making an educated guess on what will happen next in a story based on what has happened in the text, their knowledge about the author and their own personal schemata. While very similar to a prediction, an **inference** is something different. Inferences are made after reading __//all//__ of the clues given in a text and then making an educated guess. Furthermore, predictions are made predominantly from facts that have been given by the author and the characters within the story. Inferences are based more on applying prior knowledge and going beyond the stated information. This is also referred to as "reading between the lines."

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This website offers lesson plan in which elementary students examine illustrations in a picture book and make inferences about the author and his/her life. Additional inferences and predictions are made as students continue to read the text and examine the pictures.======

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This website is a good introduction for elementary students learning how to infer and predict. It offers a brief overview, then provides students with a paragraph to read. After students have read the paragraph, they make inferences and predictions about what is going on and what will happen next.======

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This website is a fun way for students to practice making inferences outside of the classoom. Entitled "Inference Battleship," it offers a game that allows the player to sink his/her opponent's battleship by making correct inferences. ======

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This video is a great way to engage students in making predictions and inferences. Brain POP has more advantages if you are a paying member, but offers free trials and resources to nonmembers, as well. The webiste offers a variety of other reading strategies, too.======

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This website provides a relevant lesson plan for making inferences. Students listen to a selection of CDs and by examining the cover art and analyzing the lyrics, they make inferences about the life of the artist.======

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This extensive PDF packet offers a number of activities to use with students between the ages of 10-18. Some lessons include "Making inferences through advertising," "Questioning the author," and "Infering with figurative language."======

[|Predictions and Inferences PDF Packet]
If your classroom has SMART board capabilities, this is a great lesson on predicting and inferencing. Any SMART lesson encourages student interaction and provides a 21st century model for approaching reading strategy instruction. []
 * SMART lesson from SMART Exchange Lesson Site: **

__ Article s:__
The following article discusses using think-aloud mysteries to improve literacy strategies. While not exclusively devoted to predictions and inferences, a portion of the text is dedicated to teaching and using those skills. [|Think-Aloud Mysteries to Teach Literacy Strategies]

This article reveals how to use a two-sided chart to turn observations into inferences. The focus is on how tomake inferences when reading nontraditional texts.
[|Inference/Observation Chart with Nontraditional Texts]