This document discusses making inferences by gathering clues from a text and using background knowledge to reach conclusions not explicitly stated. It provides examples of inferences involving comics, screen savers, receipts, and idioms. The document advises applying inferencing skills to STAAR test questions, like one asking which sentence shows Lady Bird Johnson trying to inspire beautification of land.

1. •Making Inferences
(starring Garfield and Calvin & Hobbes)

2. Text

4. •What is an inference?

5. • gathering clues and reading between the
lines
• reaching conclusions on the basis of
evidence and reasoning
• Using what I know

6. You make a reference when you use clues from the text and your own
knowledge to make a guess about something.
CLUES from the text + WHAT I KNOW = INFERENCE
PROCESS

7. Now try some on your own to practice the skill
of making inferences:
• As you read the comics, try explaining why it’s funny to
the person sitting next to you. In order to explain,
you’ll need use clues from the text and tell what
information isn’t directly there with your own
knowledge. This is inferring.
• Sometimes you may not “get it”. That’s the missing
information that’s keeping you from inferring.

8. 1
Making an inference means knowing
what a “screen saver” is.

9. Making an inference means knowing
why Jon would need his receipt.

10. Making an inference means knowing what
“draw the line” means in this context. It is an idiom.

11. Making an inference means knowing what the word delusional
means.

12. You can apply your inferencing
skills to the STAAR test!

13. STAAR TEST
• An inferencing question would look like this:
Which sentence shows that Lady Bird
Johnson tried to inspire others to beautify
the land?
This is an inference question because it is asking
for the reader to use clues from the text +
background knowledge to find the answer.

14. LOOK AT THE QUESTION:
Which sentence shows that Lady Bird Johnson tried to inspire others to
beautify the land?
You need to know what the word inspire means (that’s your background knowledge). What
does it mean?
You also need to know what the word beautify means (background knowledge). What does it
mean?

15. LOOK AT THE ANSWERS:
A Lady Bird attended one such ceremony in 1964, when she spoke at
the opening of the Flaming Gorge Dam in Utah.
B Lady Bird visited many areas of the American West.
C She even gave awards to highway districts that place native plants
along their highways.
D Lady Bird also helped create hiking and biking trails in an area of
Austin called Town Lake.

16. ANSWER
A Lady Bird attended one such ceremony in 1964, when she spoke at the
opening of the Flaming Gorge Dam in Utah.
B Lady Bird visited many areas of the American West.
C She even gave awards to highway districts that place native plants along
their highways.
D Lady Bird also helped create hiking and biking trails in an area of Austin
calledTown Lake.
The answer is C because this is the only sentence that
shows how Lady Bird inspired others to beautify the land
(awards-native plants)