Introductory Activity :

Duration: 50 minutes

Description: Students will have the opportunity to learn the difference between guessing and predicting by doing a hands-on activity.

Goals: To introduce prediction as a reading strategy

Body :

Set up:

The room should be set up so that the large bird footprints walk through the room to a table where a brown paper bag and a note is laying. The note should read something such as "Dear Ms. Smith and class, I was here to visit and you were out for recess. I am sorry I missed you but I left you a present. It is something I love to eat! Signed, Chirpy".

Main Activity:

The teacher then allows students to think through what may be in the bag, reveals the bird seed, and explains the word "predict". Next the teacher passes out brown bags with other items such as erasers, pens, etc. along with index cards that include clues about what may be in the bag. For example, an index card to go with a pen may say, "I am long and skinny. I can be used with a piece of paper." It is best to give clues that could lead to more than one item to illustrate that predictions are not always completely accurate, but are still good. The students should work as a group to figure out what may be in each bag, and then share their predictions with the class while they open their bags. When this activity is complete, the teacher may introduce a storybook and allow students to practice their prediction strategies by using the clues on the cover, and then throughout the story as it is read to them.

Evaluation Activity :

After using this story to practice predicting as a class, students could predict on their own in their journals when another story is read at another time. They may draw pictures or write. Assessment can then be done by determining whether the students' predictions relate to the story and could really happen.