Inferring with Blues Clues

Over the past couple of weeks, we have been "getting to know our characters" during Readers' Workshop.  This unit focuses on summarizing, identifying character traits, making connections, and inferring.  We have had a lot of fun reading about some favorite characters including Olivia, Franklin, and Arthur.  During the first part of the unit, I encouraged the kiddos to stay close to the text.  We put post-its in our books to mark our thinking and made text-to-self and text-to-text connections to help us understand our characters better.

When it came to teaching inferring though, I needed the kiddos to think beyond the text.  On the suggestion of a colleague, we started inferring with wordless books.  We used the image of separate "text clues" and "schema" puzzle pieces coming together to create an inference.  Wordless books are great for getting kiddos to realize their schema, or prior knowledge and understanding of a topic.  However, I wanted the kiddos to think about the text as well, so I had the idea to try a Blue's Clues book to teach the next step in inferencing.

I wasn't surprised when my "big kid" first-graders balked at the idea of reading a "baby book" like Blue's Clues.  But I persevered, ignoring their eye rolls and groans.  Then I avoided pointing out that every one of them called out "a clue, a clue!" on the first page with Blue's paw print.  I've always enjoyed Bue's Clues, and appreciated the concept of the show even more after reading Malcolm Gladwell's analysis of the show in The Tipping Point.  It turns out that even big first graders can benefit from the structure of the story (the books follow the same layout at the TV show).

Within the first few pages, the kiddos were eager to solve Blue's mystery.  A few pages later I had the kiddos make inferences about what Blue might want using the first two clues and their schema.  One of the books we read was called Blue's Frustrating Day.  In it, Blue is on her way to a birthday party but is frustrated about something.  Two of Blue's clues were a bow and a string so the kiddos inferred that perhaps Blue was frustrated because she could not tie a bow on a present.  Their schema told them that when you go to a birthday party you often bring a present.  After the final clue, a shoe, we revised our inference using the new information.  We determined that Blue was frustrated because she couldn't tie her shoes.  The kiddos took it one step further though, by inferring that Blue needed to wear shoes to the birthday party because people dress up for parties.  It was great to see them getting into the story and making thoughtful, logical inferences.  I think we are well set up to start inferring in other books!