Making Inferences Teaching Resources
Make teaching inferences a true success this school year with inferencing worksheets, pictures, activities, questions and more resources created by teachers and curated by an expert teacher team!
Aligned with the Australian English curriculum, the activities and worksheets in this teacher resource collection have been designed by Aussie teachers to help students learn to use a mix of background knowledge, context and textual evidence to make educated guesses while reading.
Editable resources are available so you will be able to easily differentiate instruction for individual learners.
Has it been a while since you taught reading, or at least this particular part of the curriculum? Read on for a primer from our teacher team, including what inferencing means and how it differs from predicting, plus a look at inferential comprehension.
What Is an Inference? A Kid-Friendly Definition
Inferencing is a key skill for students as they develop their reading and writing skills, and it's no surprise that it's also a key component of the Science of Reading.
So, how do you define inferences for your students? Try this definition from our teacher team!
An inference is a conclusion that we make as we are reading that is based on information we find in the text, as well as our own background knowledge and experiences.
What Is Inferential Comprehension?
You may hear other teachers using the term inferential comprehension instead of or in addition to inferencing or making inferences. It's not necessarily a phrase we need to define for our students, but it's one that
Inferential comprehension is another way of describing a reder's ability to read between the lines.
How to Teach Students to Make Inferences
Whatever you call it, this higher-order thinking skill can be a difficult one for young readers to master. What's more, inferential comprehension is not a one-off skill – it keeps developing and requires nurturing.
The good news? Like all skills, it can be taught and practised. So, let's talk about some of the ways to teach students to make inferences while they're reading to improve their comprehension!
Inferencing involves the use of a student's prior knowledge combined with textual information to help them:
- Draw conclusions
- Make critical judgements and connections
- And form interpretations
Most of us do it every day, even if we don't realise it. Students may wake up in the morning, smell bacon, and make an inference that Pop is making breakfast. They used their prior knowledge about Pop's meal-making habits, combined with the information gleaned from the scent and concluded what was happening downstairs.
What sets inferencing apart from observations is that students (and we, the teachers!) need to be able to not just take in information via our senses — such as the text they're reading — but also to use that information to decide on a person, place, thing or even an event.
To do that, they connect clues and ideas. Students aren't guessing when they're inferencing or inferring. They're making informed conclusions that are evidence-based and involve reasoning.
This is why teaching inferences or the act of inferencing is so important. This tool takes students from being casual observers in reading to being active participants.
Some great ways to teach inferencing include:
1. Practise Inferencing With Photos
You don't have to stick to text. In fact, we recommend building your students' inferential comprehension with photos first!
Not only are students honing their inference skills with this activity, but they are refining their ability to describe and to differentiate between the main idea and detail. The seeds are also being sown for summarising.
- Project a photo onto your whiteboard, and challenge your class to share the main idea of the photo. You might ask, 'If you had to use one sentence to describe what this photo is about, what would you say?'
- You can also ask students to write down at least two observations or details they notice in the photo. Encourage the students to use lots of descriptive language (this will be an adjective workout!) in their observations. This exercise is also a perfect opportunity to practise positional language such as 'in front of,' 'behind,' 'to the right of,' etc.
- Challenge students to write down at least one inference they can make from looking at the photo. Ask them to use their observations as evidence! For example, 'I infer that the dining table is set for dinner because it is dark outside and there are candles on the table.'
2. Employ Guided Reading
Guided reading is a great tool for encouraging your students to think critically about a story.
As you read, stop periodically to ask questions that lead students to make inferences and connections. You can ask questions like 'What do you think the protagonist will do next?' and 'What clues in the story made you think that?'
As students put forward their ideas, encourage them to explain and justify their thoughts. Any ensuing agreement or disagreement has the added advantage of developing the students’ critical thinking skills.
Inferencing vs. Predicting — What's the Difference?
Inferencing and predicting both play a role in reading comprehension, and the strategies are related. But let's be clear: They are not the same!
Let's break down the difference between inferencing and predicting.
Inferencing
- Requires readers to go beyond the literal meaning of the words and delve into the deeper meaning or implications
- Focuses on understanding the current situation or drawing conclusions about the text as a whole
- Allows students to fill in gaps in information, understand characters' thoughts and motivations, and make sense of the overall message or theme of the text
Predicting
- Involves making guesses or forecasts about what might happen next in a story or text based on prior knowledge and clues provided
- Is often done at the beginning of a story — readers revise and refine their predictions as they progress through the text
- Focuses on anticipating future events or outcomes
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Drawing Conclusions and Making Inferences – Comprehension Task Cards
A set of comprehension task cards to help students draw conclusions and make inferences when reading.
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Inference Detectives Worksheet Pack
Guide your students to use personal experiences and text evidence to make inferences with this set of reading worksheets.
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Making Inferences Teaching Slides
Teach your students how to make inferences with this 31-slide teaching presentation.
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Inference Comics - Worksheet
Use this set of comic strips when teaching your students how to infer information from everyday situations.
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Inference Pictures – Digital Question Pack
Download this set of captivating pictures and thought-provoking questions designed to challenge students’ inference-making abilities.
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Making Inferences – Birthday Activity
Teach your students how to make inferences with this birthday invitation activity.
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Making Inferences Worksheet Pack
Guide your students to read between the lines with this making inferences worksheet pack.
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Making Inferences With Pictures Worksheet
Guide your students to use pictures to make inferences with this reading worksheet.
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Paired Passage Worksheets - Thunderstorms
Use paired passages to help your student practise applying reading comprehension strategies.
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What's Missing? – Interactive PowerPoint
An interactive presentation where students try to guess what object is missing from the picture.
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Let's Infer! Reading Worksheet
Boost reading comprehension with our 2-page writing worksheet that helps students practice making inferences.
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Aiming For Inference Posters
Six mini posters showing different scenarios that can be used when encouraging students to use inference.
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Inference vs Prediction Poster
A poster outlining the similarities and differences between inference and prediction.
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Reading Comprehension Strategies Anchor Charts
Provide young readers with concrete examples of reading strategies with a set of 18 ready-made reading comprehension strategy anchor charts.
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Inference vs Prediction - Presentation
A teaching presentation outlining the similarities and differences between inference and prediction.
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Inference Real Estate Advertisements - Worksheet
A series of real estate advertisement worksheets to use when teaching your students how to infer information from written texts.
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Inferencing Worksheet
Use this worksheet with your students when teaching them how to make an inference.
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Reading Response Journal – Comprehension Templates
A journal with comprehension sheets designed for students to study texts.
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Inference Car Classifieds - Worksheet
A series of car classifieds worksheets to use when teaching your students how to infer information from written texts.
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Reading Response Template – Inferring and Predicting
Guide your students to make inferences and predictions with a piece of text using the one-page template.
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Inferring and Drawing Conclusions Poster
A poster highlighting how to draw conclusions and make inferences when reading a piece of text.
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Three Bears in the Hot-Seat – Role Play Activity
A role-playing activity where students play the role of a character from the fairy tale, The Three Bears.
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Foldable Inferencing Template
Practise making inferences with this foldable template.
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Making an Inference – Graphic Organiser Pack
Use these graphic organisers with your students when teaching them how to use text evidence to make inferences.
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The Inference Song Classroom Poster
Teach your students about the meaning of inferencing with a song!
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Character Emotions Worksheet
Make inferences about character's feelings with this one-page worksheet.
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Inference or Prediction? Worksheet
A worksheet to use when teaching your students the difference between an inference and a prediction.
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Comprehension Strategies - Interactive PowerPoint
An engaging 48 slide interactive PowerPoint to use in the classroom when developing comprehension strategies.
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Comprehension Keys Board Game
A fun comprehension strategy board game for students to play during literacy rotations.
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QR Code Super Six Comprehension Question Cubes
A set of QR code question cubes to use when working with the Super Six reading comprehension strategies.
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Comprehension Strategy Teaching Resource Pack - Draw Conclusions and Make Inferences
A comprehensive resource pack helping students draw conclusions and make inferences.
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Inferring
A 60 minute lesson in which students will learn and apply the reading comprehension strategy of inferring.