
Making inferences is such a challenge for some of my students. Better yet, many students can make an inference, but they struggle to support their inference with details, facts, or background knowledge. Today, we did a fun activity to begin making inferences and supporting them with evidence.

While my students were at special, I hid twelve shoes around my classroom. They each had a number assigned to them, and they ranged from nice, new shoes to old, yucky shoes.

After explaining their task, my students moved throughout the room to scope out each shoe.

They wrote down their inferences, but most importantly, they recorded the evidence that led them to that conclusion.
After a few minutes of inferring and exploring, we came together as a class. We shared their inferences and worked to support (or not!) each inference. Many of their inferences were on point, while others were a little off. Either way, they had a great time and are ready to take supporting their inferences to the next level tomorrow!

If you want to try this out in your classroom, you can download the shoe numbers and recording page for free, just click the image above! 🙂

I LOVE this activity! My students struggle with this skill too and I want to use this with my kiddos. Can you give me/us an idea of the kinds of answers you would accept as correct? I'm not sure what you were looking for from the students. Examples of the answers for the shoes you used would be very helpful. Thanks!
We were inferring (1) who might wear each shoe, (2) what they did in them (for example my husband's "mowing grass" shoes, or (3) what we might know about a person given the shoes that they would wear.
One of the shoes I included was a water shoe from our white water rafting trip. Some of my students inferred that the owner of the shoe had been to the beach, where another inferred that they had been kayaking. It was a perfect opportunity to discuss background knowledge and being able to support their inferences with details.
nice
Hello! Is this activity still available?
Hello! Yes, this activity is still available! Here is the TPT link: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/If-the-Shoe-FitsFREEBIE-An-Inference-Activity-2733189. If you need anything else, please do not hesitate to reach out 🙂