Making inferences

•Making Inferences (starring Garfield and Calvin & Hobbes)

Text

•What is an inference?

•gathering clues and reading between the lines

•reaching conclusions on the basis of evidence and reasoning

•Using what I know

You make a reference when you use clues from the text and your own knowledge to make a guess about something.

CLUES from the text + WHAT I KNOW = INFERENCE

PROCESS

Now try some on your own to practice the skill of making

inferences:

• As you read the comics, try explaining why it’s funny to the person sitting next to you. In order to explain, you’ll need use clues from the text and tell what information isn’t directly there with your own knowledge. This is inferring.

• Sometimes you may not “get it”. That’s the missing information that’s keeping you from inferring.

1

Making an inference means knowing what a “screen saver” is.

Making an inference means knowing why Jon would need his receipt.

Making an inference means knowing what “draw the line” means in this context. It is an

idiom.

Making an inference means knowing what the word delusional means.

You can apply your inferencing skills to the

STAAR test!

STAAR TEST•An inferencing question would look like

this:

Which sentence shows that Lady Bird Johnson tried to inspire others to beautify the land?

This is an inference question because it is asking for the reader to use clues from the text + background knowledge to find the answer.

LOOK AT THE QUESTION:

Which sentence shows that Lady Bird Johnson tried to inspire

others to beautify the land?

You need to know what the word inspire means (that’s your background knowledge). What does it mean?

You also need to know what the word beautify means (background knowledge). What does it mean?

LOOK AT THE ANSWERS:

A Lady Bird attended one such ceremony in 1964, when she spoke at the opening of the Flaming Gorge Dam in Utah.

B Lady Bird visited many areas of the American West.

C She even gave awards to highway districts that place native plants along their highways.

D Lady Bird also helped create hiking and biking trails in an area of Austin called Town Lake.

ANSWERA Lady Bird attended one such ceremony in 1964, when she

spoke at the opening of the Flaming Gorge Dam in Utah.

B Lady Bird visited many areas of the American West.

C She even gave awards to highway districts that place native plants along their highways.

D Lady Bird also helped create hiking and biking trails in an area of Austin called Town Lake.

The answer is C because this is the only sentence that shows how Lady Bird inspired others to beautify the land (awards-native plants)