The M O S T Fun Way to Introduce Your Class ELF!

As I'm sitting on the couch watching Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel, I'm thinking about Christmas in the classroom and how much fun we had discovering our elf this year!

Let me just tell you all about it...

We had been practicing our inferencing skills the past week and the bright idea came to me, what would be better than introducing our class elf than through a mystery box inferencing lesson of course!?

First thing I did was find my mystery box and put our elf inside with his letter from the North Pole.

Then I created 4 clues to describe our elf to use for the mystery box activity.

I played this up BIG y'all.

I was explaining the activity and looking at the clues (with this puzzled look on my face) and revealed to them that these were NOT the clues I had made for this activity! Someone must have came in and wrote new clues over the weekend...they flipped! 

So on we went.....each student got a recording sheet and 1 clue. They recorded their clue and then walked around to find and record the 3 remaining clues their peers had.

Once they collected and recorded all 4 clues, they traveled back to their desk to put together the clues and visit their schema. They recorded their inference at the bottom of their paper.

Let me just tell you how excited they were once they read all their clues and "thought" it was an elf!!!!

We shared our inferences with each other and the time had come for me to reveal the mystery!

We rationalized through why they thought it was an elf and why it couldn't be other things they may have thought.

And there he sits, inside our mystery box. 

I can not imagine introducing our class elf any other way than this in the future.

In fact, I was so excited I made it into a download just for you!

Now you can introduce your class elf through the mystery box or just practice inferring.

I've included 5 different sets of clues for the following mystery items:

 elf, candy cane, stocking, ornament and Santa hat

You can find it available now in my Tpt store or by clicking on the product picture above.

Save if for Next Year: Introducing Your Class Elf

As I'm sitting on the couch watching Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel, I'm thinking about Christmas in the classroom and how much fun we had discovering our elf this year!

Let me just tell you all about it...

We had been practicing our inferencing skills the past week and the bright idea came to me, what would be better than introducing our class elf than through a mystery box inferencing lesson of course!?

First thing I did was find my mystery box and put our elf inside with his letter from the North Pole.

Then I created 4 clues to describe our elf to use for the mystery box activity.

I played this up BIG y'all.

I was explaining the activity and looking at the clues (with this puzzled look on my face) and revealed to them that these were NOT the clues I had made for this activity! Someone must have came in and wrote new clues over the weekend...they flipped! 

So on we went.....each student got a recording sheet and 1 clue. They recorded their clue and then walked around to find and record the 3 remaining clues their peers had.

Once they collected and recorded all 4 clues, they traveled back to their desk to put together the clues and visit their schema. They recorded their inference at the bottom of their paper.

Let me just tell you how excited they were once they read all their clues and "thought" it was an elf!!!!

We shared our inferences with each other and the time had come for me to reveal the mystery!

We rationalized through why they thought it was an elf and why it couldn't be other things they may have thought.

And there he sits, inside our mystery box. 

I can not imagine introducing our class elf any other way than this in the future.

In fact, I was so excited I made it into a download just for you!

Now you can introduce your class elf through the mystery box or just practice inferring.

I've included 5 different sets of clues for the following mystery items:

 elf, candy cane, stocking, ornament and Santa hat

You can find it available now in my Tpt store or by clicking on the product picture above.

Mentor Text Monday: Making Inferences

My firsties vocabulary this year has been out of this world!

I just love hearing use the same statements on their own that I do when I read a book aloud...

"This reminds me of..."

"I infer..."

"I wonder..."

Such great thinking going on in their little brains. 

This week we read a book called Never Take a Shark to the Dentist.

This books calls for a perfect lesson on making inferences. 

I talked them through the first few pages.

Then I started calling on students to make inferences.

On the last few pages, I let the voices inside their brains do the talking.
Here are some of the responses I got:

This book we a great review on inferring for us but it would also be a fabulous one to use for introducing the comprehension strategy! 

Inferencing, Phonics and Pancakes....YES, they ALL Go Together!

Who's down for a #foodfriday?

We were all about it in room 118.

In fact, we had been reading a poem about pancakes all week long in preparation!

I stumbled upon this book again recently (oldie, but goodie). 

After rereading it, I knew I had to use it to review making inferences.

If you haven't read this book, it is a wordless picture book. 

Beyond perfect for using those text clues + schema to make inferences!

As I read, I had 4 spots throughout the book where my firsties stopped to record their inferences. 

Once we finished reading, we went back a second time to share our inferences as we read.

It was also fun to have them help me come up with words to the book!

So...who reads a book about making pancakes without actually making them?!?!

Psshhh NOT this teacher.

We broke out the pancake mix, syrup and griddle and went to cooking!

They admired my cooking for a few minutes and then I sent them off to work on yet, another, pancake project while I resumed cooking 30 pancakes!

Searching for words was their task. 

This past nine weeks we taught silent e and bossy r words.

They had to find one word for each pattern.

Once they found all 10 words, they make a short stack of pancakes with their words.

And to top it all off, we ate these heavenly puppies right up!

Must Read Mentor Text: Grammar---Two Bad Ants {Inferencing}

Last week we were rockin' out inferencing in our classroom! Each day we read a book and did a little making inferences activity to go along with the book. There were some great books I talked about in {THIS} inferencing post, but one definitely stood out as a book I want to share with each and every teacher who teaches this reading skill. So I thought it was time to link up with Collaboration Cuties for their Must Read Mentor Text Linky!

Two Bad Ants

Two Bad Ants is about two ants who take a journey from their "home" to a very unfamiliar place where they get caught up in all kinds of trouble. The best part is, the author never tells you where the ants are. He leaves it to the picture clues (and of course your schema) to infer where the ants are. Talk about a perfect way to stop mid-book and have your kids make some inferences. I also found this freebie from All That Glitters in First Grade. I ran to tell my team the news of this book, and if I could, I would run and tell you too! It is that good!!!

If you have a text to share, be sure to follow the link below.

 

 

The Adventures of Inferencing

I have taken my class (not voluntarily of course) on an inferencing adventure! If you've been reading my blog for any period of time now, you know that I absolutely love to make anchor charts to introduce any and every topic. My inspiration for the "Making Inferences" chart came from Mrs. Richardson's Class.

Essentially, schema plus picture clues leads to making an inference. It took my firsties awhile to catch on to the new "lingo" but after some great activities they were inferring like champs I tell ya!

 

I would be a lot less great of a teacher if it weren't for the ideas of others who have inspired me. I introduced the concept of making inferences through a little thing called the Mystery Box....ooooooo! {Thanks to good ol' Abby for this one} I put this thing out and about in my class a few days before the lesson and the kids were drawn to it already (so my plan)! After debuting the anchor chart, I gave each of them a clue (4 different ones handed out randomly).  They had to copy down their clue then roam around the room finding other friends who had the missing clues they needed. Once they had all 4, they read them and then made their inference using the clues and their schema. They LOVED this so much, we had to do it again a few days later. A GREAT way to introduce the topic!

 Throughout the week we also read a few David Shannon books (one of our favorite author's). Duck on a Bike, No David!, and David Gets in Trouble are great read alouds to have conversation about making inferences.

 Another great inspiration from{Mrs. Richardson}....making inferences with David. Of course you've gotta add the craft! Too cute!

I wanted to leave you with a book that just blew.me.away. with it's ability to teach inferencing. I stumbled upon this book when googling inferencing ideas. Needless to say it is now one of my favorite books!!

It's about two ants who take a journey and get caught up in all kinds of trouble. The best part is, the author never tells you where the ants are. He leaves it to the picture clues (and of course your schema) to infer. AN ABSOLUTE MUST! I cannot stress it enough. Pure inferencing perfection. Go check it out now!

{I feel like I'm yelling...but it's really THAT good!}