Make inferences: 

Good readers use their prior knowledge and information from what they read to make predictions, seek answers to questions, draw conclusions and create interpretations that deepen their understanding of the text.

• An inference adds to what you have read as you draw conclusions that go beyond the words you have read on the page.
• You can create an inference by connecting your background knowledge with the clues from the texts or pictures.  You can use this information to form an opinion about information that is not clearly stated in the story.
• Inferring makes you think ahead to determine what could happen next.  You will make prediction and then confirm or reject them.
• When you infer, you make an educated guess about what's going on in your reading.
• You can infer the meaning of unknown words by using the context of the sentence and the clues in the pictures to figure out what would make the most sense in the sentence.
• Authors don't include all information in their stories.  They want you to discover some information through inference.
• When you have sympathy or understanding toward a character, laugh at a joke, get a sense about the setting in a story or solve a mystery as you read, you are using inferential thinking.

   

  Excerpted from 7 Keys to Comprehension:  How to Help Your Kids Read It and Get It! by:  Susan Zimmerman and Chryse Hutchins