In-Class Portfolio: Graphic Organizer

Inferencing - not a topic that is easy to teach at any grade level. When we had to create a graphic organizer for our portfolio, I went immediately to inferencing! As a matter of fact, I created two organizers that my fourth graders will  use next year.


This first one I think I will use when I initially teach inferring. The layout is simpler and graphics bigger to accommodate the larger handwriting at the beginning of the year. I will need to teach how to take bulleted notes and use page numbers as references as opposed to complete sentences. These instructions are not listed at the top, as I know students will initially want to use sentences and it will take practice to summarize thoughts into note form.

This second graphic organizer is for the later half of the year. The layout is more complex and the graphics are smaller in order to highlight the idea of bulleted notes and page number references. Again, I did not place this into the instructions as sometimes complete sentences are the way to go when referencing the text. I left space under puzzle piece #2 to accommodate those students who may find lots of information in the text.

I hope to use both of these graphic organizers for informational as well as literary texts.