1.3         Reading Literature: Students read and respond to works of literature – with emphasis on comprehension, making connections among ideas and between texts with focus on textual evidence.

RO3.A-K.1.1.1 Ask and answer questions about the text and make inferences from text; refer to text to support responses.

Drawing Conclusions (or Making Inferences): 

• (Kid Language) When a book doesn’t give you a complete picture in your head, sometimes you have to “draw” or fill in the rest of the picture using what you know.  
• (Adult Language) Making a judgement about something that is not explicitly stated, based on what is inferred in the text and one's own prior knowledge.

The student will be able to identify meaningful evidence in the text for each example.

The student will be able to identify meaningful background knowledge from their experience for each example.

Given teacher guidance, text clues, and background knowledge, the student will be able to draw reasonable conclusions that can be supported by evidence to 90% accuracy. 

35-45 minutes

1. Animals should definitely not wear clothing by Judi Barrett, illustrated by Ron Barrett (reading level 2.8)
2. DrawingConclusions.doc handout and drawingconclusionsbookmark.docx made by Ashley Powers  
3. AnswerKey Inference Assessment
   StudentVersion Inference Assessment
   TeacherVersion Inference Assessment
   
4. Mosaic of Thought by Susan Zimmerman and Ellin Keene for ideas dealing with comprehension strategies.
5. www.teachervision.com for information on strategies for making inferences.
6. www2.scholastic.com for leveled books.
7. Cloze Activity (Optional--Extended Activity)
8. Compare and Contrast Graphic Organizer (Optional--Extended Activity)
9. Don’t Take Your Snake for a Stroll by Karin Ireland (reading level 2.5)  (Optional--Extended Activity)
10. Chimps Don’t Wear Glasses by Laura Numeroff (reading level 2.7)  (Optional--Extended Activity)
11. Why Dog Never Says Please by Suzanne Williams (reading level 2.8)  (Optional--Extended Activity)

a.      Anticipatory Set
1. How many of you like to draw?  Tell students that today we are going to be reading artists and they will draw conclusions in their heads. 

2. Have students finish the incomplete picture and write what they think drawing conclusions might mean.  Share these with a partner. (DrawingConclusions.doc)

b.      Mini-Lesson on Drawing Conclusions
1. Conclusions are like pictures that you get in your head when you read.  When a book doesn’t give you a complete picture in your head, sometimes you have to “draw” or fill in the rest of the picture using what you know.  This is called drawing conclusions.  Good readers draw conclusions as they read to help them understand what they are reading.  

2. Introduce the "It Says, I Say, And So" method.  "It says" points us to the text first.  What does it say in the text? Go back and re-read what it actually says in the text.  "I Say" points us to our own knowledge.  What do we know that might help us solve this mystery? "And So" is where we draw a conclusions based on the information we gathered.  

3. For kinesthetic and musical learners, make up a chant with hand motions to remember this strategy.  Open hands like a book for "It Says," point to self for "I Say," and spread hands for "And So."  

3. For instance, a book might say that Sarah’s face is wet, but it doesn’t come out and tell us why it is wet.  Model the “It Says, I Say, And So” method with this example. Fill in a "It Says, I Say, And So" chart on the board to demonstrate.

c.       Guided Practice
1. In the book, Animals Should Definitely NOT Wear Clothing by Judi Barrett, the pictures will show us why certain animals cannot wear clothes.  I am going to cover up the pictures so that we have to use what the book says and what we know about the animal to draw conclusions why that animal should definitely not wear clothes.

2. Read the book, covering up the pictures and make predictions about what each picture will look like.  Have students literally draw their conclusions.

3. Think-aloud for the first 2 pages, and then allow students to think, pair, and share their ideas.

d.      Independent Practice
1. On the last 3 pages, have students write and draw their own explanations using the “It Says, I Say, And So” model.  Have students share these and compare them to the book’s reason.  Collect these to assess student understanding and inform instruction.

e.       Closure

1. Close your eyes and draw in your mind the 2 things we use to draw conclusions. 

2. Tell a neighbor why good readers draw conclusions.

3. Hand out the drawing conclusions bookmarks for students to remember the concept when they read (drawingconclusionsbookmark.docx)

4. If there is time, use this assessment to guage student progress.  It can also be given as homework:

AnswerKey Inference Assessment
StudentVersion Inference Assessment
TeacherVersion Inference Assessment

Collect the "It Says, I Say, And So..." worksheets to assess student understanding.  This worksheet will help you to see what steps of this process were difficult for students and inform your instruction for the next lesson.

As a culminating activity, use this assessment to guage student progress:

AnswerKey Inference Assessment
StudentVersion Inference Assessment
TeacherVersion Inference Assessment

a.      Extensions and Center Activities
These are some extra activities that I would do with this book either during centers or at some other point during the week to review. 
1. Application
i. Cloze activity:  use what you know and what the text tells you in order to draw conclusions and fill in the missing words in the story.
ii. Reread your story to make sure it makes sense.
iii. There may be several words that make sense in the blank.
iv. *note:  this method has been used before and students are familiar with this type of activity. 
2. Synthesis/Creation
i. Write your own page for Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing.
ii. Choose another animal, then think of a type of clothing it would look silly in.  Draw a picture and then write the words for your story on the other piece of paper, but DON’T tell us what piece of clothing you chose.  Refer to the clothing as ‘it’.
iii. Later, have students read their story and have other students guess what silly piece of clothing the animal is wearing in your picture.
3. Review Text Connections
i. Judi Barrett wrote both Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing.  Compare and contrast these two books by the same author. 
ii. Let’s draw a conclusion.  Based on these two books, what types of things do you think this author likes to write about?  Why do you think that? 
4. Further Exploration on the Computer
i. http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/illusion/illusions.htm : Have students explore this sight with optical illusions on it.  Sometimes our brains draw the wrong conclusions and we see things that are not even there!
5. Leveled Reading Groups:
i. Don’t Take Your Snake for a Stroll by Karin Ireland (2.5)
ii. Chimps Don’t Wear Glasses by Laura Numeroff (2.7)
iii. Why Dog Never Says Please by Suzanne Williams (2.8)