Are you looking for an easy way to bring some additional fun and excitement to your literacy lesson plans this winter? Consider adding a fun snowman inferencing activity to your lesson plans! In this post, I’m going to share an engaging inference detective activity that will give your students the chance to solve a mystery and save a chilly snowman!
Why Inference Practice is Important
First, I wanted to mention why it’s so helpful to plan an inference detective lesson for your students. Learning how to make inferences can be a tricky skill for students to learn! However, it is a foundational skill, so it is imperative to practice this with students.
When developing inference lessons for early elementary students, a central focus is teaching this equation:
clues + schema (thinking) = inferring
This means that students look for information presented in the text. Then, they combine it with their background knowledge. As these two aspects come together, students will make an inference about a particular topic or situation.
Making inferences is something that skilled readers do, so effective literacy instruction should give students the chance to sharpen this skill. However, inference practice doesn’t have to be boring! In fact, you can capitalize on the idea that students are looking for clues in order to make inferences! You can encourage your students to become inference detectives.
To illustrate this, I’m going to share a fun inference detective activity that’s perfect for the winter months.
Inference Detectives: The Case of the Snowman’s Hat
In this inferencing activity, students will work to solve the mystery of the snowman’s missing hat! They will be given a case file with clues to help them discover who took the snowman’s hat. Students are always so excited to use the clues to help the chilly snowman locate his hat!
Step One: Meet the Suspects
The first clue in the case file gives the students pictures of the five suspects in the case. In this mystery, all of the suspects are animals. The class can spend a minute naming and discussing each of the animals.
As students read through the remainder of the clues, they will be able to rule out suspects based on the characteristics mentioned in each clue. This is why it’s helpful to activate background knowledge about the animals by discussing the suspects first.
Step Two: Read the Remaining Clues
After discussing the suspects as a class, it’s time to read the rest of the clues! In order to help your students focus solely on their inferences, you can read the clues out loud to the class. Each clue is numbered, so this can be a good opportunity to practice counting and numerical order for younger students. You can work together to decide which clue number needs to be opened next!
After reading each clue, you can give your class the chance to rule out a suspect based on the clue. If you have the suspect cards on display, you could turn them around as students rule out the suspects. There is also a recording sheet that students can use to keep track of the suspects. They are listed at the top of the page, so students can cross them off as you go through the clues.
Step Three: Make an Inference
After reading all of the clues, there will be one clear suspect remaining. It’s time to make an inference about who took the snowman’s hat! Students can draw the suspect in the space provided on the recording sheet.
Step Four: Write About It
You can give your students a chance to cite evidence by writing a short response about why they came to the conclusion they did. Which clues made them infer it was that particular suspect? This is something you could discuss as a class before having students write their own responses.
Step Five: Keep Inferring!
Since making inferences is a skill that students should practice throughout the year, you could use fun seasonal detective activities all year long! For example, you could start the school year with the Case of the Missing School Supplies and then solve the Case of the Missing Candy around Halloween. (I have also written blog posts about those mysteries, if you’d like to take a closer look at them.)
More Tips for the Snowman Inference Activity
If you’re interested in using this snowman inference activity in your classroom this winter, here are a few more tips to make this a worthwhile experience for you and your students:
- If students are older or more accelerated readers, they could read the clues themselves. This will make it more of a student-led activity.
- There are many ways you could incorporate this activity into your classroom. For example, students could work together with a partner or small group to make their inferences. This will help them practice collaborative skills and oral communication.
- As an added level of excitement, you could have your students wear detective hats! This small detail helps them get into the right mindset and makes them eager to show off their detective skills.
No matter how you use this activity in your classroom, I know that your students will love to be detectives for the day! It’s such an engaging way for them to practice an important foundational skill for reading.
Printable Snowman Inferencing Activity
I have put together a resource with everything you need to plan this activity for your students. It includes all of the printable pictures, labels, clues, and recording sheets that will help this be a fun and memorable activity for you and your students.
If you’d like to take a closer look at everything included in The Case of the Snowman’s Missing Hat, you can find it in my TPT store.
Save This Winter Inference Activity
Be sure to save this post so you can come back to it later! Just add the pin below to your favorite board of early elementary teaching ideas. You’ll be able to quickly find this snowman inferencing activity when you’re putting together your lesson plans this winter.
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