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English lesson plan · 5th grade (Year 6 in England) · 30 minutes

Making inferences

Reading Comprehension

CCSS RL.5.1CCSS RI.5.1England: Y5/6 Reading (inference)England: KS2 SATs ReadingEngland: 11+ English

Objective and success criteria

Students will: Making inferences.

I can answer questions on today's skill on my own, without help.
I can explain each step and say why it works.
I can check my answer and spot a mistake.

Before and after

Needs first: Predicting and simple inference

Leads to: Citing textual evidence; Tone and mood; Implicit meaning and inference

Materials: A short text or extract (one copy each), Highlighters, Question cards, Mini whiteboards, A short model text on the board, Printed student sheet (below).

Warm-up · 4 min

Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Predicting and simple inference). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

Kim stepped up to the high board. Her knees shook as she looked down at the water. How does Kim feel? (nervous / angry / bored / sleepy) → nervousPrompt: The answer is not written word for word. Look for clues.
Jada looked at the dark clouds. She grabbed her umbrella before leaving. Why did Jada take her umbrella? (It was sunny. / She thought it would rain. / She lost her hat. / She was going swimming.) → She thought it would rain.Prompt: The answer is not written word for word. Look for clues.
The ice cream dripped down Lucy's arm. The sun beat down on the beach. What will probably happen to the ice cream? (It will grow. / It will melt. / It will get colder. / It will freeze.) → It will melt.Prompt: The answer is not written word for word. Look for clues.

Hook · 3 min

Read the first lines of a short text aloud and ask what students predict will happen and why.
Share the objective: Making inferences. Read the success criteria together.

I do: model it · 7 min

Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
Example: The house was silent. Dust covered the furniture, and cobwebs hung from every corner. What can you infer about the house?
Step 1: An inference combines clues in the text with what you know.
Step 2: So the answer is: Nobody has lived there for a long time.
Answer: Nobody has lived there for a long time.
Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

We do: guided practice · 6 min

Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.

The coach blew the whistle, and the players trudged off the field, heads down, while the other team cheered. What can you infer? (The players lost the match. / The match was cancelled. / The players won. / The players are going to start playing.) → The players lost the match.Prompt: The answer is not written word for word. Look for clues.
Bea's eyes lit up when she unwrapped the paints. She had been asking for them since the summer. What can you infer? (Bea dislikes painting. / Bea bought the paints herself. / Bea is pleased with her present. / Bea is disappointed.) → Bea is pleased with her present.Prompt: The answer is not written word for word. Look for clues.

You do: independent practice · 7 min

Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 6 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

Exit ticket · 3 min

Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.

Watch out for

Answering from memory or opinion instead of evidence in the text.
Copying a long quote without explaining what it shows.

Support and stretch

Support

Review first: Predicting and simple inference.
Use concrete materials: a short text or extract (one copy each).
Give the first step of each question, or a partly worked example to finish.
Pair with a confident partner for the guided practice.

Stretch

Move on to: Citing textual evidence; Tone and mood; Implicit meaning and inference.
Explain a common mistake in writing and how to fix it.
Write a word problem that uses today's skill, then solve a partner's.

Homework and more practice

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/english/grade-5.

Free lesson plan from eurekami.com/lesson-plan-builder

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Making inferences

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Should Primary Schools Ban Homework?

Every evening, in homes across the country, the same battle takes place: tired children, frustrated parents and a worksheet that nobody wants to finish. It is time for primary schools to ban homework. The most important reason is that, for young children, the evidence for homework is weak. Several large reviews of research have found that homework has little measurable effect on the test results of pupils under eleven. Older students may benefit, but for younger children, the hours spent on worksheets do not seem to pay off. Second, children need time to play, rest and be with their families. Play is not a waste of time; it builds creativity, problem-solving and friendships. A child who has spent six hours concentrating at school deserves an evening to explore, read for pleasure or simply be bored – which is when imagination often kicks in. Some people argue that homework teaches responsibility. This is a fair point. However, children can learn responsibility in many other ways: feeding a pet, helping to cook dinner or practising an instrument they have chosen themselves. Finally, homework can be unfair. Some children have parents who can help them every night and a quiet desk to work at. Others share a small space with siblings or have parents who work late. Homework can widen the gap between these children instead of closing it. Schools should replace homework with something simple: read every day, for fun. That is one habit worth taking home.

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Question 1
Read "Should Primary Schools Ban Homework?". What is the writer's tone?
- A. confident and reasonable
- B. humorous and silly
- C. angry and insulting
- D. uncertain and confused

The Climbing Wall

The climbing wall at the leisure centre was twelve metres high, and from the bottom it looked like a mountain covered in brightly coloured sweets. Jaya had watched her older cousin, Ravi, scramble to the top of it a dozen times. Today was her first turn. The instructor clipped the rope to her harness and checked the knot twice. "Remember," she said, "use your legs, not just your arms. And don't look down until you're ready." The first few holds were easy. Jaya climbed quickly, buoyed by Ravi's cheers. But halfway up, the holds grew smaller and farther apart. Her arms began to burn. She looked down – and immediately wished she hadn't. The floor seemed impossibly far away, and her legs began to tremble. "I want to come down," she called. "You can," the instructor answered calmly. "Or you can rest. Lean back into the harness. The rope's got you." Jaya didn't believe her. But slowly, she let her weight sink back. The rope held. Her breathing steadied. She looked at the wall in front of her, not at the floor, and noticed a small yellow hold to her right that she hadn't seen before. Ten minutes later, she slapped the top of the wall. The leisure centre erupted in cheers – or at least Ravi did, which felt like the same thing.

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Question 2
Read "The Climbing Wall". Why did Jaya's legs begin to tremble?
- A. She was cold.
- B. The rope broke.
- C. She looked down and became frightened.
- D. She was excited to reach the top.
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Question 3
Read "The Climbing Wall". What is the tone of the final paragraph?
- A. angry
- B. gloomy and regretful
- C. frightening
- D. triumphant and lightly humorous

The Fennec Fox

The fennec fox is the smallest fox in the world. It weighs about as much as a bag of sugar. It lives in the Sahara Desert in North Africa, one of the hottest places on Earth. The first thing most people notice about the fennec fox is its enormous ears. They can be as long as 15 centimetres, which is huge for such a small animal. The ears do two important jobs. First, they let heat escape from the fox's body, helping it to stay cool. Second, they are so sensitive that the fox can hear insects moving under the sand. The fennec fox has other ways to survive in the desert, too. Thick fur on the bottoms of its feet protects it from the burning sand. During the hottest part of the day, it rests in a cool burrow underground. It comes out to hunt at night, when the air is cooler. Water is hard to find in the desert, but the fennec fox can go a long time without drinking. It gets most of the water it needs from the food it eats, such as insects, plants and small animals.

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Question 4
Read "The Fennec Fox". Why does the fennec fox hunt at night?
- A. Its prey only comes out in the day.
- B. The air is cooler then.
- C. It cannot see in daylight.
- D. It sleeps in trees during the day.

My Grandmother's Hands

My grandmother's hands are brown and wrinkled, like a map of rivers that have been flowing for eighty years. When I was small, I used to trace the lines with my finger and ask her where each one went. "This one," she would say, pointing to a deep crease across her palm, "goes back to the farm where I grew up, where I picked cotton until my fingers bled." Then she would point to a thin white scar on her thumb. "And this one leads to the night I learned to cook for eight brothers and sisters." Her hands have kneaded thousands of loaves of bread. They have stitched every quilt in our house and plaited my hair before every first day of school. They once caught my baby brother when he slipped from the top of the slide, faster than anyone thought an old woman could move. These days her hands shake a little when she holds her teacup. Sometimes she drops a stitch and has to start a row again. But when she takes my hands in hers, they are still the strongest hands I know.

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Question 5
Read "My Grandmother's Hands". What does the story about the slide show about Grandmother?
- A. She was quick and protective when it mattered.
- B. She did not like the baby.
- C. She was frightened of slides.
- D. She was always slow.

The Vault at the Top of the World

On a frozen island in the Arctic Ocean, between Norway and the North Pole, a narrow concrete doorway sticks out of the side of a mountain. Behind it, a tunnel leads deep into the rock. This is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, and it holds more than a million packets of seeds from almost every country on Earth. Why keep seeds in a mountain? Farmers all over the world depend on many different varieties of crops, such as types of rice that survive floods or kinds of wheat that resist disease. If a variety disappears because of war, natural disaster or simple accident, it may be lost for ever. The vault is a back-up copy, like saving a precious file in two places. The location was chosen with care. The vault is high enough above sea level to stay dry even if ice caps melt. Inside, the seeds are kept at about minus 18 degrees Celsius, cold enough to keep many of them alive for decades or even centuries. The surrounding rock is permanently frozen, so even if the power failed, the seeds would stay cold. The vault opened in 2008. In 2015, it was used for the first time: scientists who had lost access to their own seed bank during a war in Syria withdrew samples, grew new plants and later sent fresh seeds back to the vault. The back-up had worked. No one hopes the vault will be needed often. But like a fire extinguisher in a school corridor, it is reassuring to know it is there.

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Question 6
Read "The Vault at the Top of the World". Why does the writer compare the vault to a fire extinguisher?
- A. Both are used every day.
- B. Both are kept ready for an emergency, and we hope not to need them often.
- C. Both are red and heavy.
- D. Both are found in schools.

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Answer key: Making inferences

1. A. confident and reasonable
2. C. She looked down and became frightened.
3. D. triumphant and lightly humorous
4. B. The air is cooler then.
5. A. She was quick and protective when it mattered.
6. B. Both are kept ready for an emergency, and we hope not to need them often.