I just love my job…
I love it so so so much! Goodness me what a difference I am feeling over the last few weeks. I just love when all of the routines set in. I mean I have such a wonderful group of kids. They are so smart and always excited to learn. It is not fun to teach when the kids aren’t into it. My kids though, they love to sing, dance, and are always up for a challenging activity!
Now that I have bragged my butt off about em’ I must show you what we have been up to this week!!!
Inferring hmmmm… inferring… well it means to draw a conclusion. Huh?
You know, like to read between the lines. What lines?
Like looking deeper at what the author isn’t exactly saying (crickets).
Why is inferring so easy but so hard to teach!!??? Most kids do it without even knowing they are. I just find it crazy hard to put into words.
So… this week we inferred like nobody’s biz.
After reading and inferring, modeling and introducing it to my kids I introduced them to Iggy the Inferring Iguana. They know Iggy, they understand that he reminds them to infer but they needed more practice. Thanks Iggy….
(If you don’t do Beanie Baby reading and writing strategies look into it. My kids love them and are always so excited when they see a new one on my desk.)
Later we got to the juicy stuff. After we were introduced to infer we embarked on a little scavenger hunt. I hid pieces of a paper skeleton ($1 at none other than the dollar tree) all around the school.
As a class we read the clues, inferred where the piece might be and set off to find it.
This really clicked with my kids!
The clue about the principals office was my fave. They assumed the front door (even though it says not the front). Then one of my little smarties said and I quote “Look deeper though! It says…”
YES YES YES!!!
Here is a copy exclusive to my followers. Just click the picture below!
Hand in the office!
Inferring away!
Modeling the leg bone!
Aha!!!
There it is!
So today I gave my students another opportunity to practice their inferencing skills first thing. The night before I taped a smartie to the bottom of each of their chairs. You can use anything an eraser, a sweet note, it doesn’t matter. After morning work I handed them each a clue to read. I instructed them to read it, infer what it is saying, but wait to begin looking. After they had time to process and infer we discussed the details and “dug deeper”. They concluded that it was under their chair (after a few kids looked under their table and in their book bag, but hey). Then I let them all look at the same time. Of course they found it and inferring is all of a sudden fun and exciting.
And here is your exclusive copy of the clue!
Finally my favorite part!!!! I wrote a song what what… while getting ready for work this morning it just came to me. My kids came up with the cutest hand motions. We practiced today and they are going to practice tonight. Tomorrow I will have a music video for you, but here are the lyrics. It goes to the tune of Sean Kingston’s Beautiful Girl (random, I know but I was looking up inference videos on Youtube and the song was on one of the videos. I though um strange but it’s catchy so I decided it was perfect for rewriting the lyrics.
Look back tomorrow for our exclusive music video!!
Happy inferring friends!
Darling ideas!
Jessica
Teach on a Limb
I like the idea of the skeleton pieces. Did you have the kids break into groups? If so, did each group get 1 clue or did each group have their own skeleton??