National Endowment for the Humanities
Theme Analysis in A Christmas Carol
Why does Charles Dickens have Ebenezer go from scrooge to light-hearted and generous? From "Bah, humbug!" to "God Bless Us, Every One!" After rereading Dickens' preface to A Christmas Carol, learners analyze quotations from the tale that...
EngageNY
Building Background Knowledge: Why Are Sports Important in American Culture?
What makes sports so special to many Americans? Scholars ponder the question as they participate in a gallery walk, immersing themselves in images and texts about sports. Pupils also complete a vocabulary strategies anchor chart to...
K5 Learning
Liza's First Spelling Bee
Learners read about Liza's first spelling bee before answering six reading comprehension questions. Skills include identifying similarities, making inferences, drawing conclusions, and answer questions based on explicit information in...
Reed Novel Studies
The Homework Machine: Novel Study
Do opposites really attract? The D Squad in The Homework Machine includes of a quad of opposites. The group, made up of a teacher's pet, a geek, a class clown, and a slacker, make use of a machine to do their homework. In response...
Read Works
Bat News
Get the bat facts with a short nonfiction reading passage. After reading the passage, readers respond to questions that focus on main idea, inferencing, vocabulary in context, and author's purpose.
Towson University
Looking Into Lactase: Structured Inquiry
Why is lactase important? Biology scholars explore enzyme function in a structured inquiry lab. The activity tasks lab groups with observing how temperature and pH affect enzyme activity, as well as determining which milk products...
Curated OER
Red, Green, and Blue Mystery Liquids! Hypothesis or Inference?
Eighth graders are actively involved in the scientific method and inquiry as they form quick hypotheses based upon a teacher set of mystery liquids. They determine the need to make additional observations of the liquids.
Curated OER
Inferring Character Traits
Here is a lesson which is "flexible," and can operate as an individual or whole class activity. After reading a book of their choosing, with the use of a semantic map, learners identify character traits. They infer how their feelings...
Curated OER
Staying in Phoenix
Read to learn! Here is a one-page informational passage about inhabitants of Phoenix, Arizona. Learners will read to make logical inferences and determine the central idea or theme. Prompts ask the class to identify the main idea and...
Great Books Foundation
The Road Not Taken
Every time you make a choice, it prevents another option from taking shape. Spend some time analyzing "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost with a reading activity that includes four discussion questions that recall evidence from the text.
Curated OER
Make a Pass at Me
Students identify different types of functions and units of measurements. In this statistics lesson, students will collect data, graph their data and make predictions about their data. They plot a linear regression graph.
Curated OER
Artifact Identification-What is it?
Learners observe an artifact and make an inference about the artifact's purpose. They are going to role-play as archaeologists by using artifacts to hypothesize about the lives of past people.
Curated OER
Color Dots 2
Students develop simple observations. They observe bleeding of colored inks with water, to understand mixtures, and to make generalized inferences from their observations.
Curated OER
Making and Breaking the Grid
Students examine the grid in terms of a method of organization in our society as well as graphic design. In this "Making and Breaking the Grid" lesson, students design solutions to common problems and draw conclusions about patterns and...
DiscoverE
Build a Watershed
What's the best way to learn how watersheds work? Build one! Combining engineering, the water cycle, and ecology concerns, the activity is the perfect fit for an interdisciplinary unit. Teams construct a model watershed with simple...
Curated OER
Annie's Gifts: comprehension skills
In this comprehension skills learning exercise, students read the book Annie's Gifts and complete comprehension activities. Students complete 5 activities including problem/solution, setting, making predictions, making inferences,...
Curated OER
Making Connections
Fourth graders investigate visual imagery to aid reading comprehension. In this reading strategies lesson, 4th graders discover how visual imagery helps in comprehending a story. Students use a reader's notebook to record connections.
Curated OER
The Diary of Anne Frank
Eighth graders read the Diary of Anne Frank. In this novel reading activity, 8th graders read and analyze the story. Students do online activities and create a newspaper giving a summary of three major events in the story. Students...
Curated OER
Using Your Senses
Learners make observations. In this sensory skills lesson, students use their senses as well as tools that sharpen their senses to make observations regarding foods and other items.
Curated OER
Process Skills Review: Observation, Inference, and Predictions
A simple activity asks science learners to define five terms and identify five statements as predictions, observations, or inferences. This would be a supportive assignment when introducing elementary-levle scientist to inquiry practices.
Curated OER
Making Inferences and Drawing Conclusions
Second graders make several inferences based on the reading of Shel Silverstein poems. They write their own poetry and complete an assessment in which they differentiate between sentences that are stated or inferred.
Ohio Department of Education
Observe Then Infer
To develop their skill at drawing inferences from observations, sixth graders rotate through six stations, conduct a series of experiments, make observations, and draw inference from what they observe.
Tell City Schools
The Cay
Support your instruction of The Cay by Theodore Taylor with this extensive unit of materials. Provided here are prereading activities, worksheets and discussion questions for the entire book, and reading quizzes that you can use to check...
K5 Learning
Harry and Annie
Henry and Annie are on thin ice—literally! Read about the siblings' winter walk and the importance of staying safe with a short passage and four follow-up questions.