Inference QR Code Freebie

Happy Friday Everyone!

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to post volume 6 of my morning work spiral review last week.  I hope to have it out by Monday with volume 7 as well.  I had every intention of doing so; however, my week took a frustrating turn.  On Thursday we found out our student growth data from state testing...needless to say, it wasn't what I had hoped for.  The proficiency was evident, but the overall growth was minimal.  I spent the rest of the week and weekend trying to figure out how student growth is calculated and how I could do a better job with this group of children.  I was very distracted, but feel better now.  Basically, I did the very best I could do with the circumstances I was in.  I was a Kindergarten teacher and moved to 5th grade in a new county, at a new school, and with new team members.  Everything was new and overwhelming.  I didn't fully become the teacher I wanted to be for 5th graders until late last school year and definitely this year.  I spent the summer reflecting, researching, and refining my teaching craft to make a better difference this year.  Cross your fingers my hard work is reflected in student growth after this school year.  Anyway, I'm back on track and more driven than ever.

Now, onto the freebie mentioned.  Today I made inference task cards with self checking QR codes.  We've been working diligently on inferences and evidence based writing to support our thoughts; therefore, the inspiration to my creation.  You can grab your free copy by clicking the picture above.  If you like what you see, consider following my blog. :)  Have a great weekend and please leave a comment if you download it. 

Freebie-Infer With Calvin and Hobbes

In 5th grade we are constantly practicing how to infer things from a text.  Recently at our grade level planning, a seasoned teacher shared how to practice inferencing with comics.  As a class we did 7-9 on the sheets and then the children practiced independently 1-6 on the sheets.  The results were fantastic and I just wanted to share her wonderful idea.  You can get your copies of the practice sheet here (page 1, page 2, and page 3).  What activities do you do for the children to practice inferring?  

Inferencing With iFake Texts

This is a picture of my completed example for the children and for you all.

Need a way to connect with your children and practice inferencing?  I highly recommend  www.ifaketext.com.  We read our weekly basal story and then the children picked two characters from the story to create a text message conversation.  Students had to infer what the characters would text about if they had iphones in the story.  Their text conversations had to be relevant to the story itself.  After entering the text conversation they printed it out.  Colored pencils were used to color the conversation bubbles to save printer ink; crayons were too dark.  Next, they took the printed out conversation and used black construction paper to trace an iphone inspired shape on the construction paper so they could glue the conversation down.    Then, they used a white colored pencil to add the iphone details.  After that, they wrote a few sentences explaining why the characters were texting what they were.  We glued the phone and explanation sentences to a piece of construction paper.  Voila!  The children were able to infer about characters without realizing it.  They had so much fun and we will definitely do this again!  Click the bolded words for the printable links to the sentence starters and iphone tracer.  FYI, there's also an ifakesuri web site.  I'm not quite sure how I will use it, but hope to.  How would you use ifakesuri in your classroom?