Drawing Conclusions

Our focus skill this week for comprehension was Drawing Conclusions.  This skill is very similar to making inferences, but takes it just a bit further.  I was searching my semi-organized class library for great picture books to use while teaching this skill.  I found two great stories that were perfect for introducing this skill to K/1 kiddos!

I explained to my kiddos we were going to be detectives and look for clues to help us better understand the story.  We would then use the clues we find to help us draw conclusions.  All of my little detectives had their clipboards with this Drawing Conclusions graphic organizer.  (I copied it double-sided.)

Click here to grab it for FREE!

The first book I used to introduce the skill was the classic Is Your Mamma a Llama?

I started reading the book as I normally would.  When it came time for the first animal to tell the llama what his mama was I had my class "detectives" tell who the baby bat's mama was.  They quickly told me the answer.  Then I asked how they knew the answer.   The first response was the illustration.  Then we talked about the other clues and even the rhyming pattern in the story.  We filled out the first section of our graphic organizer with our clues and the conclusion we came to.  Then I challenged my little detectives to see if we could still draw a conclusion without seeing the illustrations.

The next animal in the story was a little trickier.  Our clues were a long neck, white feathers and wings.  We were thinking a duck, or goose.  Then we found the next clue, it rhymes with on.  Finally we concluded it was a swan.

Another animal had whiskers and loved to eat fish... a cat?  We found more clues, had flippers and rhymed with feel (I think that was the word)... A seal!

This was a fabulous lesson the kids and I both loved!

Tomorrow we are going to review this skill with another read aloud.  In honor of the upcoming St. Patty's Day, I am reading My Lucky Day.

This is a cute story about a very smart little pig.  As we read it and draw conclusions, we will find we are smarter than the wolf! 

 You may have noticed a few changes happening on the blog.  I am freshening up a few things with the help of Dreamlike Magic Blog Designs.  My little blog is turning 1 year old next week and I m planning to celebrate in a big way!  I will be posting more details this weekend!

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