Making Inferences for Grades 3-5 with a Free Download

Teaching students how to make inferences can be simultaneously one of the toughest things to teach and one of the most natural things we do as a reader. Making inferences is a critical part of reading comprehension. It is also one of the most commonly skipped reading strategies when it comes to teaching reading.

This is why I created a reading mini unit for making inferences for 3rd Grade and 4th/5th Grade. Keep reading for a breakdown of the mini unit and grab some free resources that you can use right away. 🙌 And if you’re looking for some tips for making inferences, you might like this blog post: Simple Teaching Tips for Making Inferences. Please note that the same format and resources are included in both units, but the content is different for the grade levels.

What is included in the making inferences mini unit?

Topics Covered: Making Inferences (with illustrations, photographs, setting, real life situations, character traits, character feelings, plot)

1. Google Slides & PowerPoint for Making Inferences

This is an interactive teaching presentation to use to teach the skills. The Google Slides and PowerPoints help you teach or review the skill. There are three versions included in both PowerPoint & Google Slides. The slide presentation is organized so that you can:

Model the Skill
Let’s Try It! (Active Engagement)
Independent Practice (Exit Slip)

There are also 3 different versions of the slides:

Version 1: (Teaching Slides) These slides include transitions so that you can discuss the answers before they appear. The answers are also in the notes section of the slideshow.

Version 2: (Student Slides) These slides can be used if you are teaching virtually or if you want to use this as a review and have students complete on their own.

Version 3: (Answer Key) This slide has all the answers.

2. Graphic Organizers for Making Inferences

There are 6 graphic organizers for making inferences with any book or story.

3. Posters for Making Inferences

These posters can be used in your classroom as a visual to remind students what an inference is and sentence stems for making inferences.

4. Reading Comprehension Passages + Questions for Making Inferences

There are a total of 5 Reading Comprehension Passages & Questions. The questions are all based on making inferences.

5. Exit Slips for Making Inferences

Each exit slip can be printed out 2 per page. The Exit Slips are also available in Google Forms. The exit slips are multiple choice and short response. There are 8 exit slips:

Making Inferences Vocabulary Match
Making Inferences with Real Life Situations
Making Inferences from Pictures/Illustrations
Making Inferences with Character Traits
Making Inferences with Character Feelings
Making Inferences with Setting
Making Inferences with Plot
Making Inferences with Photographs

6. Making Inferences Activities

These 5 practice pages for students to practice making inferences with a short amount of text. The practice pages include:

Setting Inferences
Character Feelings Inferences
Character Trait Inferences
Plot Inferences
Real-Life Inferences

7. Clues & Conclusions:

This might be my favorite activity to use with making inferences in real life. You can cut these out and have students complete these in a reading center. You can also use this with Google Slides for a digital activity. Students are given two clues, which they use to draw a conclusion.

8. Recommended Book List for Making Inferences: picture books & wordless picture books Bonus! There is also a list of mostly wordless videos that you can use to teach students how to infer. This is a great way to introduce inferring. You can also read this blog post with books to use when teaching students how to make inferences.