Images and Inferences: An Introductory Activity for Cream of the Crop Comprehension
A Learning Activity is a strategy a teacher chooses to actively
engage students in learning a concept or skill using a digital tool/resource.
You may save this Learning Activity to your hard drive as an .html file by
selecting “File”,then “Save As” from your browser’s
pull down menu. The file name extension must be .html.
Phase:
Before/Engage
Activity:
This activity can be completed as a whole group or can be completed individually through the Google Classroom or any other online classroom platform. The teacher will share the Jamboard link with the students. This Jamboard can be shared via Google Classroom as an assignment. When sharing as an assignment, teachers can choose to click "Make a Copy for Each Student" on Google Classroom to prevent students from tampering with others' work. To provide a more collaborative experience, the teacher can share the link in the online platform of their choice and students will add their ideas to each slide. If the collaborative approach is used, teachers may opt to facilitate the completion of the final slide by leading the class in the sentence sort and moving the sticky notes herself. Students will view four different pictures and describe what they see in each picture. Tell students they are making an “inference” based on the image. On the last slide, students will sort sentences into “positive” and “negative” by using their knowledge of vocabulary and tone.
Assessment Strategies:
The final slide of the Jamboard may be used as a formative assessment if the activity is being completed individually. Sentences included on this slide are taken from the passage "Top Crops" found on Readworks. The vocabulary and sentence structure should lead the students to infer if the author is using a positive or negative tone. Comprehension of the sentence level of the passage can be assessed through this activity. Comprehension of the sentence level will ensure that students are able to make inferences about the passage as a whole. Remediation may be given to students struggling with slide 5 of the Jamboard.
Advanced Preparation:
Teachers should share the Jamboard with the students prior to beginning the activity.
Teachers may want to view the images and change them to fit the informational passage that will be used if not using ReadWorks "Top Crops."
Variation Tips (optional):
If one-to-one devices are not available, the Jamboard can be downloaded as a PDF, printed, and copied for the students.
This lesson can be used as part of a cross-curricular activity. Human impact on the environment is a 6th-grade science standard.
If you are interested in other parts of the lesson, I have included links for the During and After activities.