Year 4 · Reading and understanding
Reading between the lines
Draw inferences such as inferring characters' feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justify inferences with evidence
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Draw inferences such as inferring characters' feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justify inferences with evidence
Key learning points
- • A short extract
- • Clues to feelings
- • Point, evidence, explain
- • Being careful
This lesson at a glance
- 20 minutes
- 18 parts to scroll through
- 4 quick checks
- No marked quiz yet
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 18
Watch first
Reading between the lines
Be a reading detective and work out the clues the words don't say.
In a nutshell
Draw inferences such as inferring characters' feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justify inferences with evidence
What you already know
Part 2 of 18
Before we start
What you already know
You can read a short story aloud and retell what happened.
Key words
Part 3 of 18
Key words
Words you'll need today
- infer
- To work something out from clues rather than being told.
- evidence
- The exact words from the text that prove your idea.
- motive
- The reason a character does something.
Learning cycle
Part 4 of 18
Learning cycle 1 of 2
Part 1 — Finding clues
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 5 of 18
Learn
A short extract
Read this carefully. 'Mia checked the clock again. She had already tied her laces twice. When the doorbell finally rang, she grabbed her bag before her mum could finish saying hello, and she did not look back at the house.' Nobody says how Mia feels — but you already have a strong idea.
Explore the idea
Part 6 of 18
Learn
Clues to feelings
Checking the clock 'again' and tying laces 'twice' show restless waiting. 'Finally' shows the wait felt long. Grabbing the bag before the greeting is finished shows she is in a hurry to go. Not looking back suggests she is excited about what is ahead, not sad about leaving.
Quick check
Part 7 of 18
Quick check
What does 'checked the clock again' suggest?
Reset break
Part 8 of 18
Pause
That's sitting 1 of 2 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Quick check
Part 9 of 18
Quick check
Which is the best evidence that Mia is in a hurry?
Learning cycle
Part 10 of 18
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Part 2 — Proving it
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 11 of 18
Learn
Point, evidence, explain
Answer inference questions in three steps. Point: Mia is impatient to leave. Evidence: 'checked the clock again'. Explain: the word 'again' tells us she has been waiting a while and cannot settle. One quoted phrase is enough — but it must be the right phrase.
Explore the idea
Part 12 of 18
Learn
Being careful
An inference must fit all the clues, not just one. Guessing that Mia is frightened would not fit the doorbell she was waiting for. If two answers both fit the text, choose the one with more evidence behind it.
Quick check
Part 13 of 18
Quick check
What does 'she did not look back' suggest?
Quick check
Part 14 of 18
Quick check
A good inference answer includes...
Common mix-ups
Part 15 of 18
Common mix-ups
Things people often get wrong
- Answering with a feeling but no evidence from the text.
- Copying out a whole paragraph instead of one useful phrase.
- Making up story details that are not in the extract.
Challenge round
Part 16 of 18
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Mastery quiz
Part 17 of 18
No quiz for this one
This lesson has no marked quiz attached yet.
Lesson round-up
Part 18 of 18
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
Quiz score
Not sat
Games
Not played
Points this lesson
0
Best run
0 in a row
Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?
Ask LunaDo the work
Your written work for this lesson
This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.
The last bus
The bus shelter smelled of wet coats. Mira pressed her timetable flat against the glass, as though staring at the numbers might make the 9:42 appear. Rain tapped the roof in small, impatient fingers. Somewhere behind her, a shop shutter came down with a sound like a full stop.
She had been brave all day. She had been brave in the corridor, brave at lunch, brave when the register reached her name and nobody looked up. Being brave, she decided, was mostly a matter of keeping your face still.
Headlights swung around the corner and lit the puddles gold. Mira picked up her bag. Tomorrow she would say something. Tonight she would simply go home.
Original extract written for Good Learning Co.
Reading questions
- Find two words or phrases that show how Mira is feeling, and explain what each one suggests.
- How does the writer use the weather and the sounds to build the mood? Use a short quotation.
- Write the next paragraph in the same style, keeping the writer's short sentences at the moments that matter.
Reading response
ReadingRead the extract again, then write about how the writer makes you feel that way. Use a short quotation and explain your choice of words.
2 paragraphs (PEE)
Extended writing
WritingWrite your piece in full, then redraft the opening so it hooks the reader.
250–350 words
Reading log
ReadingNote the book, the pages you read and one thing you noticed about the writing.
20 minutes' reading
Saved as you type.
Part 1 of 18 · Watch & discover