Inference (Reading Passages That Build Comprehension)

This is a decent book on helping children build inference skills - something that early readers tend to struggle with. I'd say you could start this on a solid Year 1 reader (stage 8+ in ORT?) and it's good practice for new chapter book readers. Beyond that, it will probably be too easy.

I'm the parent of a seven-year-old who just started second grade. Reading was one of my focus areas since she was a baby - we read together and now she is reading independently, working her way through chapter books. Though she is a voracious reader, I wanted to make sure she understood what she was reading and knew how to focus in on key reading concepts such as finding the main idea, identifying supporting details, making inferences, etc. all of which are important ingredients for successful reading outcomes. I chanced upon these Scholastic series of books focusing on building key reading skills and have found them to be very useful. My daughter actually enjoys working on the exercises because the passages are short and interesting! The questions are well-designed and help young children, Grades 2-3 build skills in the areas of making inferences based on short passages. The passages in this book comprise both fiction and non-fiction passages. I recommend all the books in the series.

A useful book that does what it says on the cover! I have used this with Year 6 and 7 children who need to develop inference skills.

The book contains a number of non-fiction passages that are within the reading ability of an average 3rd grader or an above average 2nd grader. The passages are quite well written and interesting. The passages are very good at teaching children the skill of inference, answering a question where the answer is not obviously stated in the passage. You can maximise your usage of these passages by asking the student to explain why the "wrong" answers are wrong. The only issue I have is with the cost. There is a licence to photocopy for class usage so I guess this adds to the cost. Overall, this is great for targeted instruction for children who have yet to grasp how to answer questions where the answer is not simply stated in the passage itself.

Great for classroom capacity tools