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Lesson Plan: Drawing Inferences About Plants and Cells

Subject:  ELA- Reading

Grade: 5

Lesson Objective: To explain what part of a text about plants and animal cells means while drawing inferences about that text

Common Core Standard:  CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.1- Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

Materials:

Starter:

Say:

  • Why do you think that drawing inferences is something that you need to do? (Allow the students to answer.)

Main:

Say:

  • We all draw inferences when we are reading.  It is important to be able to draw inferences because many times you need to be able to draw a conclusion based on information that has not been stated.
  • Drawing an inference is also called reading between the lines and you do it when you are reading and when you are having a conversation with someone.
  • In science texts, you are often given many details and a lot of information.  You need to be able to understand that information and draw conclusions about what is being stated.
  • For example, you might read a text that says that there were pieces of an egg found in a nest.  What inference would you make?
  • You would infer that a bird had hatched out of the egg that was in the nest.
  • In science texts, it is important to understand the difference between an observation and an inference.  An observation is something that someone has seen and then written about. 
  • Scientists use inferences all of the time, especially when they are learning about something that they cannot actually see or touch, like fossils or outer space.
  • Now, you are going to read a paragraph about a science topic.  While you are reading, pay attention to the details and to any inferences that you might be drawing while you read.  Then, you will answer the questions.
  • Does anyone have any questions?

Feedback:

Say:

  • Who would like to share their answers?  (Allow the students to share and go over the answers.)

Written by Kimberly Greacen, Education World® Contributing Writer

Kimberly is an educator with extensive experience in curriculum writing and developing instructional materials to align with Common Core State Standards and Bloom's Taxonomy.

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