Teaching A Little Princess

Instructions for You

Objective: We make inferences all the time, sometimes based solely on what we see. Our little heroine Sara likes inferring things about people based on the furniture they own. This is an interactive activity to get your kiddos making inferences and then creating scenes to get others inferring, too. This will fill about twenty minutes at the end of one class, a homework assignment, and the following full class period.

If your students struggle with making inferences or you haven't spent a lot of time on this skill, now's the time—add an extra half hour or so at the beginning of this lesson for a crash course in inferences (bringing the total time to two full days). You can also add an extra half a class (at the beginning of the second day) if your kids haven't been exposed to a good "showing, not telling" lesson, bringing the total time to two-and-a-half class periods.

Materials Needed: Internet and projector; white copy paper; one copy each of "Furniture Adjectives" and "SocioEco Status" documents (printed and cut apart, but don't mix the two piles together); pen and paper; sticky notes; pictures from home

Step 1: Together with your students, reread and have a short introductory discussion on paragraphs 42 and 43 in Chapter 10, "The Indian Gentleman." Here are a few questions to get the conversation flowing:

• What does this mean? "She had an idea that if she could see some of the furniture she could guess something about the people it belonged to." (10.42)
• How can you know about a person from their things?
• What could a stranger figure out about you if s/he could only see your room?

Step 2: Now's the time to pop in a little (or big) lesson on inferring, including what it is and how we do it. Here's the short version:

• Remind students that we're making inferences when we look at furniture and figure out what the owners are like.
• To infer means that you take the facts, add them to what you already know (called schema), and come to a conclusion (inference). In other words, facts + what you already know = inference.
• Take a look at these pics one at a time and ask your students to figure out (infer) what the people who live in these spaces are like. The first one is the example.
  • Example:
    • Facts: We look at a living room and see white leather furniture, a chess set, a thick rug, and an awesome car. There are no pictures on the walls.
    • What we know (schema): We know leather is expensive and kids can stain it easily. We also know it's expensive to get a car inside a house that high off the ground.
    • Inferences: We infer that the person who owns this is really rich, probably single, likely doesn't have kids, is a minimalist (there's not a lot of stuff out), probably doesn't have a dog (the floors are slippery), and likes cars.
  • kitchen
  • dining room
  • library
  • child's bedroom

Step 3: Hand out one of each of the following to every student:

• A sheet of white copy paper to create a room for homework
• An adjective
• A socio-economic status

Step 4: Now it's time to go over the project guidelines with your kids:

• You'll get two adjectives to use when creating the room. One is a character trait of the person or people who live there and the other describes their socio-economic class (how much money they have).
• Don't share these with your classmates! They'll figure it out later.
• For homework, use one sheet of plain white paper to create a room.
• It can be any kind of room—bedroom, game room, kitchen—that you'd find in a normal house.
• You can draw the room, use pics from magazines, or print pictures from the Internet.
• It might help if you have a person or people in mind (real or imagined) who might live in this kind of room you're creating.
• Bring in your finished room to the next class. On the back, write your name and the two adjectives from your slips of paper in pencil.

Step 5: Explain to the kiddos that their pictures are going to become the setting for a short scene they're going to write. Now's a good time to give a lesson or quick reminder on how writers "show, not tell" using actions, dialogue, descriptions, and thoughts. 

The guidelines for the scene include the following:

• Between half and one full page.
• Don't use the words from your two slips of paper. Don't use synonyms either since the point is to infer.
• Use dialogue.
• Show! Don't tell.

Step 6: Ready? Set. Write!

Step 7: Post the illustrations and scenes around the room.

Step 8: Pass out sticky notes.

Step 9: Give about 20 minutes for students to look at the rooms and read however many scenes they have time for. They'll write their inferences about the person/people who live in the room on sticky notes and post them on/near the pictures. Make sure everyone's scene gets read by at least one person.

Step 10: Time for a little reflection, either as a whole class, in small groups, or individually as an exit ticket. Either way, here are the questions students need to think on:

• Was it easy, medium, or difficult to infer about the people who lived in the rooms?
• What clues did the writers use to let the readers know things without coming right out and saying them?
• How did the readers do figuring out about the person/people you wrote about? Did they write down any of the adjectives (or synonyms) from your slips of paper?
• What could you have done differently to paint a better picture with your words for the readers?

Instructions for Your Students

Objective: Our brains are constantly taking in information and drawing conclusions. If your friend didn't come to school one day, you infer she's sick. You see someone yawn and infer he is tired. Your bestie comes to school with a crazy-huge smile and you infer she got the concert tickets. We infer all the time.

Our heroine of the day, Sara, likes inferring things about people based on the furniture they own, which is what you're going to do today. You'll design a room based on a random adjective and some imaginary character(s) who lives there. Then you'll write a short scene to go with it and your classmates will have to infer what kind of person your character(s) is without seeing them or being directly told.

Step 1: Reread and briefly discuss paragraphs 42 and 43 in Chapter 10, "The Indian Gentleman." Here are a few things to think about:

• What does this mean? "She had an idea that if she could see some of the furniture she could guess something about the people it belonged to." (10.42)
• How can you know about a person from their things?
• What could a stranger figure out about you if s/he could only see your room?

Step 2: What exactly is an inference again?

• We make inferences when we look at furniture and figure out what the owners are like.
• To infer means that you take the facts, add them to what you already know (called schema), and come to a conclusion (inference). In other words, facts + what you already know = inference.
• Take a look at these pics one at a time and figure out (infer) what the people who live there are like.
  • Example:
    • Facts: We look at a living room and see white leather furniture, a chess set, a thick rug, and an awesome car. There are no pictures on the walls.
    • What we know (schema): We know leather is expensive and kids can stain it easily. We also know it's expensive to get a car inside a house that high off the ground.
    • Inferences: We infer that the person who owns this is really rich, probably single, likely doesn't have kids, is a minimalist (there's not a lot of stuff out), probably doesn't have a dog (the floors are slippery), and likes cars.
  • kitchen
  • dining room
  • library
  • child's bedroom

Step 3: Your teacher's going to hook you up with some key supplies. Don't lose them, and don't let anyone see them, either.

Step 4: Here are the guidelines for your project:

• You'll get two adjectives to use when creating the room. One is a character trait of the person or people who live there and the other describes their socio-economic class (how much money they have).
• Don't share these with your classmates! They'll figure it out later.
• For homework, use one sheet of plain white paper to create a room.
• It can be any kind of room—bedroom, game room, kitchen—that you'd find in a normal house.
• You can draw the room, use pics from magazines, or print pictures from the internet.
• It might help if you have a person or people in mind (real or imagined) who might live in this kind of room you're creating.
• Bring in your finished room to the next class. On the back, write your name and the two adjectives from your slips of paper in pencil.

Step 5: This room you created is now the setting for a short scene you're going to write. Remember to show, not tell, using actions, dialogue, descriptions, and thoughts.

The guidelines for the scene include the following:

• Between half and one full page.
• Don't use the words from your two slips of paper. Don't use synonyms either since the point is to infer.
• Use dialogue.
• Show! Don't tell.

Step 6: Ready? Set. Write!

Step 7: Post your room and scene on the wall.

Step 8: Get some sticky notes.

Step 9: Time to check out your classmates' work. After looking at a room and reading the scene, write your inference about the person/people who live there and stick it on/near the picture. Hopefully you'll have time to read and infer at least a few scenes.

Step 10: Time for a little reflection.

• Was it easy, medium, or difficult to infer about the people who lived in the rooms?
• What clues did the writers use to let the reader (that'd be you!) know things without coming right out and saying them?
• How did the reader do figuring out about the person/people you wrote about? Did he or she write down any of the adjectives (or synonyms) from your slips of paper?
• What could you have done differently to paint a better picture with your words for the reader?