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English lesson plan · 5th grade (Year 6 in England) · 60 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 · 6 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.
  1. Ben left his sandwich on the picnic blanket. A seagull circled overhead. What will probably happen next? (The seagull will grab the sandwich. / Ben will plant a tree. / The sandwich will fly away by itself. / It will start to snow.) → The seagull will grab the sandwich.Prompt: The answer is not written word for word. Look for clues.
  2. 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 get colder. / It will freeze. / It will melt. / It will grow.) → It will melt.Prompt: The answer is not written word for word. Look for clues.
  3. Jada looked at the dark clouds. She grabbed her umbrella before leaving. Why did Jada take her umbrella? (It was sunny. / She lost her hat. / She thought it would rain. / She was going swimming.) → She thought it would rain.Prompt: The answer is not written word for word. Look for clues.

Hook · 6 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 · 12 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 · 12 min

  • Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
  • Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.
  1. Tariq stared at his test paper, then crumpled it up and pushed it to the bottom of his bag before his dad could see. What can you infer about the test? (The test was cancelled. / Tariq did not do well. / Tariq got full marks. / Tariq's dad wrote the test.) → Tariq did not do well.Prompt: The answer is not written word for word. Look for clues.
  2. When Grace walked in, her hair was dripping and her shoes squelched on the floor. What can you infer? (It is raining outside. / Grace has been reading. / Grace has been asleep. / It is a hot, sunny day.) → It is raining outside.Prompt: The answer is not written word for word. Look for clues.

You do: independent practice · 17 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 8 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

Exit ticket · 7 min

  • Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.
  1. The house was silent. Dust covered the furniture, and cobwebs hung from every corner. What can you infer about the house? (Nobody has lived there for a long time. / It was cleaned this morning. / It is brand new. / A party is happening.) → Nobody has lived there for a long time.Prompt: The answer is not written word for word. Look for clues.

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

Name

Date

Score/ 8

The Moon's Night Walk (a poem)

The moon puts on her silver coat and tiptoes up the sky. She hums a tune to sleepy owls and winks at clouds nearby. She paints the rooftops pearly white, she lights the cat's way home, she peeps into the children's rooms to check they're not alone. She counts the stars like sleeping sheep, she sings the sea to rest, she hangs a lantern on the hill for travellers in the west. And when the sun yawns in the east and stretches out his rays, the moon slips off her silver coat and hides away for days. But look up on a quiet night when all the town's asleep: she's tiptoeing across the sky with promises to keep.

  1. Question 1

    Read "The Moon's Night Walk (a poem)". What is the mood of the poem?

    • A. sad and lonely
    • B. angry and noisy
    • C. frightening
    • D. gentle and peaceful

The Kite Festival

Amara had spent three weeks building her kite. She had bent the bamboo sticks, stretched the paper tight and painted a fierce golden dragon across the front. It was going to win the prize for best design at the town's kite festival. She was sure of it. On the morning of the festival, the field was crowded with families. Kites shaped like fish, birds and boats bobbed in the breeze. Amara's little brother, Kofi, trailed behind her, clutching a small diamond kite he had made from a plastic bag and two straws. "Mine's not very good," Kofi mumbled. Amara ran, and her dragon rose beautifully – until a sudden gust snapped one of the bamboo sticks. The kite twisted, spun and crashed into the grass. The paper ripped right through the dragon's face. Amara's eyes stung. Three weeks of work, ruined in three seconds. Kofi tugged her sleeve. "You can fly mine with me," he offered. At first Amara shook her head. Then she looked at Kofi's hopeful face and took the string. Together they ran, and the little plastic kite shot up higher than any other kite in the sky. People pointed and cheered. That afternoon, the judges gave Kofi a ribbon for "Highest Flyer". Amara clapped louder than anyone. She realised she was smiling more than she would have if she had won the prize herself.

  1. Question 2

    Read "The Kite Festival". Why did Amara's eyes sting?

    • A. She was close to crying.
    • B. The wind was full of dust.
    • C. She had paint in them.
    • D. The sun was too bright.

  1. Question 3

    The coach blew the whistle, and the players trudged off the field, heads down, while the other team cheered. What can you infer?

    • A. The players are going to start playing.
    • B. The players lost the match.
    • C. The match was cancelled.
    • D. The players won.

Should Our School Keep Bees?

Letter A: Yes to bees! Our school should put two beehives on the flat roof above the library. Bees pollinate fruit, vegetables and wildflowers, and in many places their numbers have fallen. A school hive would give local bees a safe home. It would also turn our roof into a living science lesson: we could study how a colony works, measure how much honey it makes, and plant bee-friendly flowers in the playground. Several schools near us already keep bees, and the beekeepers say pupils are never near the hives, because the roof is locked. Letter B: Not so fast. I agree that bees are important, but I do not think hives are right for our school yet. Some pupils and staff are allergic to bee stings, and even a locked roof is close to open windows. Hives also need an expert to check them every week, and no one at school has that training. Instead, we could help bees in safer ways: plant a wildflower strip by the fence, build a bug hotel, and invite a beekeeper to visit with an observation hive behind glass. If, after a year, we find a trained volunteer, we could think about hives again.

  1. Question 4

    Read "Should Our School Keep Bees?". What would most likely change the writer of Letter B's mind?

    • A. being given a jar of honey
    • B. moving the library
    • C. seeing a picture of a bee
    • D. finding a trained volunteer to look after the hives

Bugs in the Code

Theo had been looking forward to Coding Club all week. Ms Rivera had promised they would make their own animated story on the classroom tablets. Theo chose a cartoon cat and wrote the code: when the green flag is clicked, move ten steps, then turn and wave. He clicked the flag. The cat spun round and round like a washing machine and never stopped. "It's broken!" Theo groaned, and he pushed the tablet away. Ms Rivera sat down beside him. "It's not broken," she said. "It's got a bug. Every coder gets bugs. The trick is to be a detective." Together they read the code one block at a time. Theo had put the turn block inside a forever loop by mistake, so the cat kept turning for ever. Theo dragged the block out of the loop and clicked the flag again. The cat walked ten steps, turned and waved. Theo cheered so loudly that the whole club looked up. The next week, a younger girl called Ivy was close to tears because her rocket would not take off. Theo pulled up a chair. "It's not broken," he told her. "It's got a bug. Let's be detectives."

  1. Question 5

    Read "Bugs in the Code". Why does Theo say the same words to Ivy that Ms Rivera said to him?

    • A. He wants to show off.
    • B. He wants to help her the way he was helped.
    • C. He has forgotten what to say.
    • D. He thinks Ivy's tablet is broken.

The Margin

Zainab had read the library book three times before she noticed the handwriting. It was in the margin of page 112, so faint she had taken it for a smudge. In tiny, slanted letters, someone had written: "Don't trust the narrator." Underneath, in different ink and a rounder hand, someone else had replied: "Why not?" And beneath that, in the first writer's slant: "Read chapter 9 again." She read chapter 9 again. Then she read it a fourth time, and a fifth, and on the sixth she saw it – a single sentence where the narrator claimed to have been at home when, three chapters earlier, he had described himself on a train. A lie, hidden in plain sight. The whole story tilted, like a picture knocked crooked on a wall. Zainab sat back. She checked the date stamps on the card inside the front cover. The book had been borrowed forty-seven times since 1994. Somewhere among those forty-seven readers were two people who had held a conversation across years without ever meeting. She found a pencil. For a long time she hesitated over the page, feeling as if she were about to speak in a room full of strangers. Then, carefully, beneath the other two, she wrote: "Found it. Thank you." When she returned the book, the librarian frowned at the pencil marks. Zainab apologised. But as she walked home, she wondered who would be next to find them.

  1. Question 6

    Read "The Margin". What did Zainab discover in chapter 9?

    • A. A missing page.
    • B. Another note in the margin.
    • C. The name of the first writer.
    • D. The narrator had told a lie that contradicted an earlier chapter.

Why Do Leaves Change in Autumn?

In many parts of the world, autumn turns forests into blazes of yellow, orange and red. But where do these bright shades come from? The answer is hidden inside every leaf. During spring and summer, leaves are busy making food for the tree. To do this, they use sunlight, water and air. A green substance called chlorophyll captures the energy from sunlight. There is so much chlorophyll in a leaf that it hides all the other shades. As autumn arrives, the days grow shorter and there is less sunlight. Trees such as maples and oaks begin to get ready for winter. They stop making chlorophyll. As the green fades away, the yellows and oranges that were in the leaf all along begin to show. Some trees, such as certain maples, also make a brand-new red substance in autumn. This is why some leaves turn bright red or purple. Finally, the tree seals off each leaf where it joins the branch. The leaf dries out and falls. Without leaves, the tree uses less water during the cold winter months. In spring, new green leaves will grow, and the cycle will begin again.

  1. Question 7

    Read "Why Do Leaves Change in Autumn?". How does losing leaves help a tree in winter?

    • A. It makes more food.
    • B. It uses less water.
    • C. It grows faster.
    • D. It stays warmer.

The Lemonade Stand

Marcus wanted a new bike helmet, but it cost twenty dollars. He had only five. "Why not set up a lemonade stand?" suggested his grandmother. She helped him squeeze a big bowl of lemons and stir in sugar and cold water. Marcus painted a sign that said LEMONADE – 50 CENTS. On Saturday morning, Marcus put his table at the end of the driveway. For the first hour, nobody came. Cars zoomed past. Marcus began to think it was a silly idea. Then he noticed that people were walking to the park across the road for a football match. He picked up his sign and moved the table right next to the park gate. Within ten minutes, a line had formed. By lunchtime, the jug was empty. Marcus counted his coins. He had earned exactly fifteen dollars. With the five he already had, it was enough. "You did it!" said Grandma. "We did it," said Marcus. "And next time, I'll think about where the customers are before I start."

  1. Question 8

    Read "The Lemonade Stand". Why did moving the table work?

    • A. He lowered the price.
    • B. His grandmother bought it all.
    • C. The park had shade.
    • D. Many people were walking past the park gate.

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Answer key: Making inferences

  1. 1. D. gentle and peaceful

  2. 2. A. She was close to crying.

  3. 3. B. The players lost the match.

  4. 4. D. finding a trained volunteer to look after the hives

  5. 5. B. He wants to help her the way he was helped.

  6. 6. D. The narrator had told a lie that contradicted an earlier chapter.

  7. 7. B. It uses less water.

  8. 8. D. Many people were walking past the park gate.