Third Grade · Reading · week 19

Inference: clues + what you know

Make an inference by combining clues from the text with background knowledge.

An inference is a smart guess. Authors do not always tell you everything directly -- sometimes you combine CLUES from the text with what you ALREADY KNOW to figure out something the author only hinted at.

Passage: Maria zipped up her heavy coat and pulled her hat down over her ears. She grabbed a shovel from the garage before stepping outside, and her breath puffed out in little white clouds.

📋 For the teacher
Teach it (10–15 min):
  • Play "clue detective": read a sentence or two, stop, and ask, "what can we figure out that is not directly stated?"
  • Always ask for BOTH parts: the clue in the text AND the background knowledge that connects it.
  • Use everyday moments -- someone yawning, someone smiling at a phone -- and practice inferring together.
  • Remind your child an inference should make sense with the clues, even if it is not the only possible answer.
Talk about it:
  • What two ingredients make up a good inference?
  • Can two different people make two different, both-reasonable inferences from the same clues?
  • What is something you inferred today just from watching or hearing something?

Mastery looks like: They combine explicit text clues with background knowledge to make a reasonable inference and can explain both parts of their thinking.

Common stumbles: Stating only the clue without the inference, or only the guess without pointing to the clue that supports it.

See it visually

Interactive, spoken-aloud tools that show this idea in motion.

Inference & PredictionRead the clues, add what you know, and figure out the unsaid.try →
Homework for this lessonType it, write it with a stylus, or print it for pencil & paper.open →
Records attendance + 15 min of Reading for this learner.
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