Mini-Lesson

Make Inferences

Mini-Lesson: Grades 4-6

Objective: Students will make inferences based on information in a news story.

1. The timeforkids.com story, The Next Top Judge? is about the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the United States Supreme Court. Use the article to focus on making inferences.

2. After students read the article, ask: What makes Sonia Sotomayor unique? If she is confirmed, how will Sotomayor be different from the other Supreme Court Justices? (She would be the only Hispanic Supreme Court justice; She will be one of two women Justices and one of three women Justices in the history of the Supreme Court.)

3. Now tell students that you are going to re-read a sentence from the article. It is the first sentence in paragraph 2: Obama says that having Sotomayor on the top court would mark another step toward the goal of "equal justice under the law." Ask: What does this mean? How would having Sotomayor on the Supreme Court be a step toward "equal justice under the law"? What is equal justice under the law? Point out that the writer does not tell the reader what this means specifically. The writer leaves it to the reader to make an inference, or a guess, about what this means.