Be a Reading Detective

Inferring meaning is an essential third grade skill, and basically asks your child to "fill in the blanks" of what he is reading. Taking an engaging children's classic or chapter book, and working up a rich discussion, you can help your child arrive at the text's deeper meaning, or the author's inferences. The discussion needs to summarize the following key information: background knowledge, key questions, and clues in the story.

Background Knowledge consists of a variety of connections your child makes with the text they are reading. They include connections between their personal experiences and the text (text to self), their knowledge of the world and the text (text to world), and finally, their connection between another book and the one they are reading (text to text). Reading specialists note that activating a child’s background knowledge before reading a story is in fact what helps engage your child in any reading.

Create a chart with four columns. Label the first column "Background Knowledge" and it it have your child jot down notes about the following:

Ask your child to look at the title of the story. What does she already know about the story from the title? Perhaps it’s the meaning of a word in the title, or the name of a character that reveals a key player in the story. For example, in looking at the title Charlotte’s Web, your child would likely connect "web" with their knowledge that spiders make them. Your child can then infer that a spider might be a key player in the story.