Inferences

Sometimes, authors of stories don’t tell you everything that

they want you to understand. They give you clues, so that
you can read between the lines and figure it out. This is
called drawing an inference!

1 Evidence 2 Schema 3 Inference

What I Connections to What I figure
directly read the story, what out about the
in the story I already know story
Observations ©Tobin, Mar. 2017
 Name: ________________________________

My New Dog
My hands trembled as I walked into the
front door of the Taylor County Animal
Shelter. I was not afraid. I was excited.
After months of pleading and proving my
responsibility by doing extra chores,
my dad had finally taken me to the
animal shelter so that I could
pick out a new puppy!
I walked by each cage slowly,
carefully considering every single dog. I wanted to make the
right choice! I knelt to talk to a scruffy black dog with
“Martin” inscribed in the blue bone tag that hung from his
collar. He was gentle and seemed like he would be an easy
dog to get along with.
The next cage contained a sleek, grey dog, that looked
like she had been very well trained. As I approached her
cage, she sat and put her paw out, as if to “shake” my hand.
Checking her name tag, I said, “Good girl, Maggie. You are a
very good girl.”
A sweet beagle that had an adorable howl, a happy
Labrador with a face that appeared to be smiling. Cage
©Tobin, Mar. 2017
 after cage; dog after dog. They all seemed wonderful. I
liked each and every dog that I interacted with. If only I
could bring them all home, I giggled to myself, but I knew
that it wasn’t a possibility!
I came to the end of the hall, and sat down next to an
empty cage to think. What am I going to do? How could I
possibly choose? After a few minutes of consideration, I
thought I felt someone looking at me. I looked to my left,
into the cage that I was sitting next to. Instead of an
empty cage, I saw two eyes and a nose peeking out from
a box! Woof. The quietest, sweetest growl came out. This
precious little puppy had been hiding in this box the entire
time! She must’ve been waiting for the right time to come
out.
“How did I miss you?” I asked the pup. Searching for a
name on her information sheet, I noticed that the line was
blank. “No name? Well, that just won’t do.”
My dad came strolling down the hall.
“Well, Jenna, have you chosen?”
Dad asked. “No, Dad. I didn’t
have to choose. Look here.
This is Roxy and she chose me!”

©Tobin, Mar. 2017

Name: _______________________________

My New Dog Questions

1. Why were Jenna’s hands trembling? *Underline the details from the text that
support your inference in blue*
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_____________________________________
2. . What does it mean when it says “carefully considering” in the text?
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3. *Underline the details from the text that support your inference in red*
Record the evidence and your schema that helped you draw the previous
inference.
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
4. Infer: Why did Jenna decide to get the dog that she named Roxy? Explain
your answer using evidence from the text and your schema. *Underline the
details from the text that support your inference in green*
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
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©Tobin, Mar. 2017