Date: 9/29/16

Subject/Topic: Reading-Independent Practice Inferencing

Standards:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.1: Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly
and when drawing inferences from the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.1
Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific
textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
Objectives:
SWBT: Identify what are character traits: feelings, actions, thoughts, dialogue.
SWBT: Cite textual evidence to support inferences.
SWBT: Use text evidence to infer character traits.
Materials:
Independent Reading Book
Reading notebook
Character traits chart
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
Procedures:
Introduction:
Remind students about how yesterday we were reading Edward Tulane and how we were able to make
character trait inferences using our text evidence for support. Well today we are going to continue that for
the first part of the period and then the second part you will be trying it out on your own in your
independent reading books.
Body:
I need you all to listen right now so we can understand a couple more character traits together first,
before we do it by ourselves.
At this point I will get out the chart that looks the same as their flip-chart in their notebooks, and I
will put it on the SMART Board so that as we fill in the next couple examples we have a visual of where it
should go.
I will remind the students that they should also have their reading notebooks out to reference the
list of character traits and so that they can add any extra traits to their flip-chart as we read a little more
together. I will also ask the students to take out their Character Traits can be inferred by analyzing
sheet, to help us when we are figuring out what character traits we are seeing in the text and what
evidence we have to support it.
I will continue reading Edward Tulane for the following chapter, stopping at my 2-3 sticky notes to
question the students on what character traits they think are present, and what text evidence supports
those character traits.
Once we work through those together as a class I will ask the class to turn to the next page in
their notebooks.
Now that we have looked at character traits, and used specific text evidence to support the
character traits we have found, I want you to try and practice this on your own. In your notebooks I want

you to draw a 4-square chart, like our flip-charts we made, and while youre reading your independent
books for the rest of the period stop at places where you notice feelings, actions, thoughts, or dialogue.
Any of these can tell you something new about your character. So when you see these in your book I
want you to re-read and write down your characters name, what character trait you have found, and then
copy down the text evidence to support it.
Closing:
At this point I will stop and check for understanding by asking who can tell me what I am
supposed to be doing right now? I will call on 2-3 students until they have re-stated the directions back to
me so that it seems clear they know what they need to be doing. Then I will ask if anyone else has any
other questions.
If there are questions I will answer them and then remind the class that this is reading time and
we are practicing finding character traits in our independent books and writing them down in our reading
notebooks.
Assessment:
During this lesson I will circulate the room during independent reading and check students
notebooks to see that they are writing down the character from their book, the characters trait that they
found, and the text evidence to support it.
Management Issues, Transitions, and Differentiation:
Management: During this lesson I will circulate while reading to make sure all students are
listening and not chatting between themselves. If any students still seem to not be paying attention, when
I stop at a point where I want to look at a character trait I will be sure to be standing close to that student
so that when another student is answering my questions they will be quiet and listen. If there are more
disturbances during the read-aloud time I will ignore that disruptive student until they are bothering the
whole class and if their classmates do not tell them to quiet down I will move them to be sitting on their
own.
Transitions: I will give students timed warnings: when we start independent time so they know
how much time is left in the period, then when we are 5 minutes before switching classes, and again at 1
minute to finish their thoughts if they are writing and begin packing up to go back to their homeroom class.
Differentiation: For my kids who need some more prompting I will make their notebooks a fill-inthe-blank of: We can infer that...(characters name) is (character trait) because (text evidence). To help
them get started in their reading notebooks and then they can continue with their other examples
independently. When a student needs more help I can pull a small group to the back table and work with
them during the independent reading time.

Character Traits
can be inferred by analyzing
Feelings

Actions

[Text evidence]

[Text evidence]

We can infer that... (characters name)

We can infer that... (characters name)

is (character trait)

is (character trait)

because (text evidence).

because (text evidence).

Thoughts

Dialogue

[Text evidence]

[Text evidence]

We can infer that... (characters name)

We can infer that... (characters name)

is (character trait)

is (character trait)

because (text evidence).

because (text evidence).