Understanding how to make an inference from text is often difficult for children. Children make inferences all the time without realizing exactly what they are doing. It is important to share with them that making inferences is like being a detective. You look at all the evidence or clues and put them together along with their background knowledge to come up with an idea about a situation or problem.

When beginning to teach inferring I use riddles. I explain to them that often writers include details and we, as readers must use these details to make an inference. When you infer, you use observations, prior knowledge, experiences, and details from the text to make connections and come up with ideas.

The following Famous American riddles are a great way to introduce students to inferring or to just begin a unit of study on these famous Americans. Have fun and enjoy!

Any claims of correlation or alignment to the CCSS or WIDA ELD Standards are solely those of Tools for Teachers by Kyp McLaren and have not been evaluated or endorsed by WIDA or the NGA.

Kyp McLaren is the sole creator of this product and is not associated with the entities who created the standards.

The Common Core Standards were developed and written by the NGA. © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.”

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