Literacy Lesson Day 3- Making Predictions

On the third day of my unit my students practiced making predictions. I started class by asking students to tell me what a prediction is. They have been making many predictions in science, so they were able to tell me that it is a guess about what might happen. I really wanted to emphasize to them that when we are making a prediction there is no right or wrong. I then asked them to tell me what would be good things to include in a prediction. As a class the students decided that they should explain why they think their prediction was going to happen and use evidence from the book to support their ideas.

We did popcorn reading and then it was time for the students to make their predictions. Some of the students really struggled and I heard from many of them that they could not make a prediction because they did not know what was going to happen next. Many of them seemed concerned about making an incorrect prediction. As a result I had quite a few students read ahead or look at the end of the book to find out what was going to happen.

Students also had a hard time explaining why they thought their prediction was going to happen. They could explain in detail what they thought was going to happen but it was difficult for them to really explain why. After talking with me about their prediction they were usually able to pinpoint what in the book or their background knowledge helped them make the prediction, but it was hard for them to figure it out on their own.

I can tell that my students are still going to need more practice making predictions and using text to support their ideas. They are so used to just writing what they think that it is still difficult for them to have to explain their ideas. The next day I shared some of the better predictions that students made and asked the class to tell me what made the predictions so good. I think that it helped other students to see how their peers were using details from the book and their background knowledge to make predictions and explain their thoughts.