Recently, we have been talking about inferring. We feel that inferring is "reading between the lines". To infer, you use what you know (previous life experiences) with the text or illustration. Inferring is a critical thinking skill allowing students to dig more deeply into the various texts they choose to read. I  love teaching this strategy so that students can have more meaningful conversations in their book clubs later on in the year.

We started with a book called Tight Times by Barbara Shook Hazen. The illustrations in the story are rich with facial expressions and body language. I posted some of them in the classroom and students made their thinking public using post-its.

Next, students worked in small groups looking at various comics. In each comic, a portion of it was covered. Students had to use what they knew about the characters, they used their own experiences and observed the body language and facial expressions within the comic to make an inference. They definitely loved this activity!