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Reading and Writing 6-8 / Week 01 / Tuesday
2/6
Week 01 · Evidence Hunters

Tuesday

Reading between the lines
// Say what you see, then say what it means
⏱ about 20 min

Tuesday: Reading Between the Lines

Rocket is quiet. He has sharpened the same pencil three times and has not written a word.

Raven watches him over her notebook. "What do you notice about Rocket today, Nova?"

Nova's light dims to a soft blue. "I notice the pencil. I notice the blank page. I notice he keeps checking the porch steps."

"Something is on your mind," Raven says gently. "The clues say so."

Rocket laughs despite himself. "I promised to read my report aloud on Press Day. In front of everyone."

"You never said you were nervous," Raven says. "We inferred it. The clues were right there."

Rocket sets the pencil down. "Then today we teach inference. And I practice reading aloud to the corkboard."

Learn it: the text says, so I can infer

Sometimes a text does not say a thing outright. It gives clues instead, and you infer the rest.

An inference joins a clue from the text with what you already know about how people and things behave.

Raven thinks aloud: "The text says Rocket sharpened the same pencil three times. People fidget when they are nervous. So I can infer he is nervous."

An inference is only as good as its evidence. If you cannot point to a line, it is a guess, not an inference.

  • Find the clue the text gives.
  • Add what you already know.
  • Say what the text does not say outright.
  • Cite the clue so a reader can check you.

Read it

Read it
The Garden Gate
Raven reached the community garden just after sunrise, hoping to sketch the sunflowers for The Signal.
The gate was unlatched. She was sure she had latched it the evening before.
Inside, the soil in the first three beds was dark and wet. The far beds were pale and dry.
No hose lay out. The rain barrel lid was off, and a small green watering can sat beside it.
Raven crouched. In the soft earth by the barrel were footprints, each one shorter than her hand.
She followed them to the gate and out to Maple Street, where they faded on the dry sidewalk.
Rocket arrived with his notebook. "Who waters at dawn?" he asked. "The schedule says Thursday is nobody."
"Someone small," Raven said. "Someone who can reach the first beds but gave up on the far ones."
"Someone who left in a hurry," Rocket added, "or they would have latched the gate."
Nova hovered over the watering can. "What else do you notice about the can?" she asked.
Raven turned it over. On the bottom, in marker, were the letters T.O.
"Theo Ortiz," said Rocket. "He is six. He asked last week if he could help with the garden."
Raven smiled and set the can back exactly where she had found it.
Rocket lifted an eyebrow. "You are not going to mention it in The Signal?"
"Not yet," Raven said. "A good reporter checks before she prints."
"We never saw him," she said. "But the garden told us. Tomorrow we will ask Theo to be our official helper."
CHECK IT: THE GARDEN GATE
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
What can you infer from footprints shorter than Raven's hand?
Which clue supports the inference that the visitor left in a hurry?
Why were the far beds dry?
Which of these is explicit in the text, not inferred?
StatementTrue or false?
The text says outright that Theo watered the garden.?
The rain barrel lid was off.?
The footprints faded on the dry sidewalk.?
Raven took the watering can home.?
WHY THIS EXERCISENobody saw Theo, so his visit is an inference. Raven set the can back exactly where she found it.
Which two letters were written on the bottom of the can? Type them.
Which street did the footprints lead to? Type the street name.
CITE IT: CLUE OR GUESS?
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
Raven says the visitor was small. Which line is her clue?
Which inference has NO clue in the text to support it?
Raven decides to check before printing. Which clue tells you she is careful?
PUT THE GARDEN GATE IN ORDER
  • What happened first?
  • Tap the cards in order.
1First
2Next
3Then
4Last
Try it
Look around the room you are in. Find one clue about what happened there earlier today.
Say the clue aloud, then say what you infer from it.

Good inferring. Tomorrow is Writing Lab: you will cite two pieces of evidence in one paragraph about a Signal report.

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