However, he is never heard from again and all that is left are the pictures. The pictures only have titles and captions, but Burdick promises the stories to come if the publisher is interested. In this read aloud, a man drops off a set of pictures at a book publisher’s office. The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van AllsburgĪnother illustration-based book, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick is another great starting point for making inferences. They use evidence from both the text and the picture to back up their inference.Ĭlick here to see Two Bad Ants on Amazon. For this lesson, I have the students infer what the ants are seeing or coming in contact with while they are in the kitchen of a house (while they are on a hunt for sugar crystals to bring back). Two Bad Ants is perfect for introducing inference in an non-threatening way. If you wish to purchase the printables, you can find them in my Making Inferences Activities Resource pack by clicking here.Īmazon Affiliate links are included if you wish to purchase the books listed in this post through the links provided.

Note: The printables and activities shown with each read aloud are optional but will help you teach the lesson and use the book the way I recommend. This post shares my favorite inference mentor texts. When I am teaching inferences for the first time with a group of students, I keep this in mind and choose super high-interest read alouds that my students love digging into to find evidence. So, of course, it is not the easiest one for them to grasp (and even sometimes enjoy). Learning how to infer and back up inferences with strong evidence is such an important skill for students to master.

Two bad ants book