Organizing a health coach workshop can feel scary but it does not have to. This is how I built Rachel's Wellness. I hosted workshops offline (paid and low Learn how to get clients from a workshop for your wellness or health coach biz by Rachel Feldman.

Creating a nourishing, empowering , and transformative experience for women at a retreat starts with the planning of inspiring and enriching workshops. In this article, we are going to list 17 empowering workshop ideas you can implement at your next retreat.

SUNDOWN ~ Launching online at 10am AEDT, Wednesday 27th Jan / 3pm PST Tuesday 26th Jan An afternoon celebrating our partnership with Climate Council and every garment in our upcoming collection Sundown being created from preferred fibres. We were welcomed on Ngangbul Country of the Bundjalung Nation by Aunty Lois Cook

'Want to break the ice when you meet someone new? We share 22 of the best questions to ask so you can avoid ''so, what do you do?'' Read on to find out.'

Experience the benefits of wellness travel by easily designing your own DIY retreat at home using self-care practices from around the world.

www.makesomething.ca No nie mogę! Zycia mi nie starczy na te wszystkie projekty!! Farbowanie materiałów metodą naturalną ? Tak! Metoda 'stara jak świat', używana przez starożytnych ludzi. Nie kupuj sztucznych, chemicznych barwników. Wytarczy że zajrzysz do lodówki, lub kuchennej szafki, a znajdziesz tam produkty, którymi bez problemu możesz barwnić tkaniny. Naturalne kolory to barwniki pochodzące z roślin, bezkręgowców, oraz minerałów. Większość z nich to barwniki roślinne, otrzymywane m.in z: owoców warzyw korzeni i ziół, liści i trawy, kwiatów, kory drzew, oraz drewna, grzybów i porostów, kawy i herbaty. Barwniki występujące w naturze to m.in: karoteny (żółty, pomarańczowy), kurkumina (żółty, pomarańczowy), chlorofil (zielony), antocyjany (czerwony, niebieski, fioletowy). Barwniki farbujące na kolor żółty/pomarańczowy folkfibers.com Brzoza - liście Dąb - kora Jabłoń - zewnętrzna kora Jałowiec - młode pędy Jodła - szyszki Łopian - ziele Modrzew - brązowe szpilki i kora Olcha - liście i kora Osika topola - świeże i suszone liście Wierzba - liście Seler - liście Cebula - łuski Marchewka Papryka swieza inw proszku Gruszka - liście Granat Jeżyny - pędy, liście i korzenie Skórki po owocach cytrusowych Porosty Kurkuma Gorczyca - żółte ziarna Liść laurowy Paproć - korzeń Kaczeńce Rosiczka - ziele Rumianek - kwiaty Nagietek Skrzyp Mniszek lekarski Szafran Trzcina Zielona herbata Wrotycz - świeże liście i zasuszone kwitnące główki Wrzos - pędy Barwniki farbujące na kolor czerwony Czarny bez Jawor - kora Mniszek lekarski - korzenie Buraki Czerwone róze Hibiskus - suszony Dzikie dojrzałe jeżyny Ziele dziurawca - nasączone alkoholem Czerwiec - owad wysuszony (euch) Czerwona cebula - luski Koszenila - wysuszony owad Barwniki farbujące na kolor na różowy ecouterre.com Pokrzywa - czerwone łodyżki jesienią śliwki Truskawki Wiśnie Maliny Porosty Barwniki farbujące na kolor na purpurowy Kapusta czerwona (niebieski/purpurowy) Róże Lawenda Marzanna Jagody Czerwona kapusta Morwa Czarny bez Szafran Borówki Chaber Hiacynt Indygo Barwniki farbujące na kolor błękitny, niebieski lilfishstudios Borówki, jeżyny, jagody, aronia Kapusta czerwona (niebieski/purpurowy) Tarnina - owoce Czarna fasolka Hiacynty Liście indygowca Barwniki farbujące na kolor brunatny, brązowy sandrapearce.blogspot.co.uk Kawa i herbata Narcyz Mącznik lekarski Szczaw - świeże ziele Kory prawie wszystkich drzew Dziurawiec zwyczajny - kwiaty Bluszcz - gałązki Żołędzie - gotowane Koper włoski - kwiaty, liście Orzechy Barwniki farbujące na kolor zielony indiaflint.com Karczochy Szpinak Zielona herbata Szczaw - korzenie Naparstnica - kwiaty Trawa Skórki jabłek Ps. spróbuj wymieszać rośliny o barwnikach niebieskim i żółtym. Do dzieła zatem!! Stworzyć można nie tylko ciekawe barwy ale fantastyczne, originalne wzory. Naturalne barwienie materiałów jest bardzo proste. Nie zawiera sztucznych barwników, chemikaliów i innych rakotwórczych substancji. Jest eko-przyjazne i tanie - wystarczy że pójdziesz do lasu i nazbierasz liści, kwiatów lub dzikich owoców. Pachnie! - gotując np zioła, wydobywa się aromatyczny zapach, lecz uważaj na indygo - śmierdzi! Udanej zabawy. anjouclothing.com Skladniki: materiał - 100% organiczna bawełna wybrany barwnik 3/4 szklanki soli/ocet woda garnek, oraz miska Przygotowanie: ***Jeżeli farbujesz owocami, zaleca się używanie tylko soli. Natomiast, jeżeli farbujesz używając ziół, liści, czy kwiatów itp, dodaj tylko octu. Wymieszaj sól/ocet z wodą. Zanurz materiał i doprowadź wodę do wrzenia. Zmniejsz ogień i gotuj tkninę przez około godzinę. Następnie, wyciągnij materiał, odsącz z osolonej wody, przepłukaj w zimnej wodzie i odstaw na bok. Teraz czas na kolory. Barwniki na bazie warzyw i owoców zalewamy wrzątkiem i gotujemy od 10-15 minut. W przypadku ziół, herbaty, czy kawy wystarczy, że potrzymamy we wrzatku przez 5 minut. Gdy nasz barwnik jest już gotowy, barwimy materiał poprzez włożenie go do mikstury i trzymanie go przez ok godzinę. Należy pamiętać, że im dłużej pozwolisz materiałom moczyć się w wodzie, tym barwa będzie intensywniejsza. Nie martw się jeżeli otrzymany kolor nie jest satysfakcjonujący. Potrzymaj materiał w barwniku dłużej. Możesz nawet podgrzewać na małym ogniu, lub trzymać przez noc (bez pogrzewania). Spłucz w letniej wodzie, wysusz. Gotowe. indiaflint.com

The most common and effective income streams for health coaches and wellness professionals to incorporate in your wellness business.

Getting started with math workshop in the elementary classroom

Featuring printing workshops, conversations around eco-friendly fashion, upcycling sessions, and more

One of the things that often worries people about planning a retreat or workshop is that they don’t know how they are going to find people to attend. Especially if you don’t have a huge following (yet). What if you put in the time and energy to create something beautiful and don’t sell any tickets?

* It takes time and a lot of work to make a house feel like home. But I’m getting there. I haven’t stopped being busy ever since we moved to our new farmhouse. One of my favorite things…

Topics include planning, organizing, and managing math workshop, as well as finding math center games and activities to use in your classroom!

Goed eten en fysiek actief zijn, zijn enkele voorbeelden van goede gewoonten die je lichaam kunnen helpen fit en jong te blijven. Maar dit geldt ook voor onze

Teacher Truth- I used to despise teaching Writer's Workshop. I understood the structure of the workshop model and the focus of each grading period, however, I didn't really know WHAT to teach each day during my mini-lessons. Fast forward a couple of years, and I had an amazing opportunity to visit an amazing teacher's classroom and observe her in action and I fell in love with her writing instruction! And then the next year, my amazing team and I decided to each tackle one subject and share our plans. I chose writing (even though it still wasn't my favorite) so I could spend more time learning about teaching writing and *hopefully* fall in love. It worked! Now that I LOVE writing, I wanted to share what I currently do to launch Writer's Workshop! I've taken pieces from what I love from different resources to make what works for me and my students. This post is a little peek into my mini-lessons, anchor charts, and mentor texts that I love! I posted them in the order that I usually teach each lesson, however you can change them around to make it work for you and your group of writers! For each lesson I shared an example of an anchor chart! In my classroom, I always prepped the anchor charts with the title and an image first, but added the content WITH my students during the mini-lesson! The books that I have posted are linked to my Amazon affiliate store. If you purchase them through the link, I will receive a small commission! This might just be one of the most important lessons to launch Writer's Workshop because it explains exactly what it is and what students can expect from their teacher and their own expectations. This is always the very first lesson that I teach when beginning Writer's Workshop and I love using the pie chart as a great visual! I begin this mini lesson using the book Arthur Writes a Story to get my little writers thinking about writing! After we complete the large anchor chart together, my students completed their own mini-anchor chart to glue in their writer's notebooks! I love using these mini-anchor charts because my students can reference them at anytime, even if the large anchor chart is not visible in our classroom anymore! After this lesson, I continue to follow this model for our writing instruction each and everyday! The independent writing time is always the most important and longest part of our writing time! For the next mini-lesson, we discuss WHAT writers actually write! Some groups do a great job at brainstorming different types of writing, while others need a little push! This would be a great mini-lesson to bring out different types of writing to show your little writers! Think cookbooks, Christmas cards, printed e-mails, grocery lists, newspapers, magazines, etc. You can put all these items in a basket to have your writers explore independently, or pull them out while you are making your list as a class! After creating a list as a class, students can either create their own list OR they can simply glue in a similar list into their writer's notebooks or folders! This is another important mini-lesson! It really allows your little writers to think about WHY writers write and why they should write! I love using the book Author A True Story by Helen Lester because it is a story from an author's point of view and allows writers to hear why an actual author chose to write! In my experience, sometimes writers have a difficult time determining WHY they write and might need some guidance to brainstorm ideas for the anchor chart! This particular mini-lesson sets up your expectations for HOW students behave during Writer's Workshop. Using the book Ralph Tells a Story, you can show students what not to do during writing time. This really allows them to brainstorm ideas of what they should be doing during writing! I always teach this lesson right after the {What Good Writers Do} lesson because it always focuses on writing behaviors. For this particular lesson, I reference back to Ralph Tells a Story to help my writers determine what writing should look like, sound like, and feel like in our classroom! For this mini-lesson, I always ask my writers what our classroom would look like, sound like, and feel like if one of our administrators walked into our classroom during writing time. Depending on your class and group of writers, you could complete this in one lesson or split it up into three different lessons! This particular mini-lesson discusses the tools that writers need in order to write. I'm going to be honest, if I'm struggling with time this is probably the first lesson that I would cut out because you could also discuss it in the What Good Writers Do mini-lesson. But, this is a good lesson to go over all the tools that your students can use in your classroom and your expectations for using them. Writing journals or folders? Pencils, erasers, pens for editing? Extra graphic organizers, writing pages? Writing prompts? Word wall or personal dictionaries? There are TONS of writing tools for the writers in your classroom! It's really important to talk about your expectations and even discuss with your writers how they should set up their writing journal or folder! It's common for little writers to not able to keep their belongings organized, so this is a great lesson to really focus on that! Using the book The Day the Crayons Quit is a fun book to use for this lesson because you talk about what would happen if you didn't have access to certain writing tools! "Mrs. Dills, I'm done!" If I had a nickel for every time I've heard that statement, I would probably own my own island! I don't know what it is, but at the beginnin writers always think they are completely finished as soon as they finish with one writing piece! This anchor chart stays up in my classroom for a very long time and I reference it A LOT! This book is a great story to read for this mini-lesson because they are SUPER short stories and allows you to discuss how writers could add lots of details to complete their story!. Then, you could discuss what else writers could do when they think they are done! Because of course, they've really just begun! In my first and second grade classroom, it was very common for my writers to freeze when they couldn't spell a word correctly- especially at the beginning of the year! Some would ask how to spell the word and some would just sit there and not write anything else! This mini-lesson really focuses on stretching out their words the best that they can instead of focusing on spelling the word perfectly. For this mini-lesson, I don't read a mentor text but instead I really focus on modeling how to stretch out words by listening for each sound and then writing them down. I go over each step with the students and then model writing my own story using this strategy. There are times that my writers still have a difficult time stretching out words for their writing, so during this lesson I also give them a personal dictionary. I didn't have a word wall in my classroom, but instead each of my students received a personal dictionary to keep in their desks. I like printing this 2 pages to a sheet and allowing them to keep it in a pocket in the back of their writing journals or folder! And FINALLY, it's time to really dig into story writing! I absolutely LOVE hearing from my little story tellers and I really look forward to teaching them HOW to write a story! This can definitely be broken into multiple days if you want to focus on modeling each step! However, it can easily be taught in one lesson! A Squiggly Story is such a fun little book about a little boy that is learning how to express himself, just like your writers as they learn how to write a story! This is another important anchor chart that I refer back to a lot during my writing instruction. A lot of times writers want to skip right to the writing part, but it's important for them to realize that there is a process! This is a great introductory lesson to the writing process for your little learners! I model this a lot in my classroom! This lesson really focuses on allowing students to come up with their own ideas for writing. I teach this after the {How to Write a Story} lesson because then I can really focus in on the first point, which is thinking of an idea! I like to reference the book Ralph Tells a Story again because the character in that book really struggled with thinking of an idea to write. The character in The Best Story has a similar problem, but she figures out that she should write from her heart! After reading the book, we talk about what is in our heart. Then, we talk about maps and their purpose. It would be really great to show students a picture of an actual map during this lesson! Then, I begin creating my own heart map and have students create their heart maps to keep in their writing journals to use throughout the year! Oh my goodness! I always, always, always have writers that get stuck or frozen and just don't know what to do! Stuck is the cutest book about a little boy whose kite gets stuck in a tree and he is determined to get it out! For this mini-lesson, I really like having my students brainstorm ideas for what they can do when they get stuck during writing time! So the anchor chart will look different each year because it really depends on the ideas that the group comes up with! Then, during independent writing time my students get to practice using those ideas if they get stuck! This might be one of my FAVORITE writing mini-lessons, which is crazy because not a lot of writing actually takes place! This mini-lesson shows the importance of illustrations and having them match your words! All of these book options are great because they have very little or no words at all, and students have to look at each illustration to tell the story. For this particular mini-lesson, I did not create an actual anchor chart with the students. Instead, I drew a simple picture and had students tell me what was happening in MY story! Then, my writers had to do the same thing! I had their return to their desks and they drew a detailed illustration. Afterwards, in pairs, students had to look at each other's illustrations and try to explain what was happening just from their drawings. This really helped them see the importance of their illustrations! To introduce the Writing Process, I like reading the book Rocket Writes a Story and discussing each part with my writers. Of course, this is truly just an introduction and students will not go through the entire writing process in one lesson! However, it is good that they have an understanding of each component and are aware of the process as they begin their writing units! I allow my writers to glue this mini-anchor chart into their writing notebooks so they always have a visual reminder of the writing process even if it is not currently displayed in our classroom! After students have an understanding of the writing process, we spend more time on how writers can fix or "fancy" their writing using the book Fancy Nancy! Although we go over editing and revising in a mini-lesson, this is definitely not the last time that my writers are introduced to this concept. I model editing and revising throughout the entire year and they have A LOT of practice working independently, with writing partners, and during writing conferences! For these lesson ideas in one easy FREE document, click here or the images below! For the mini-anchor charts click here or the picture below! For the personal dictionary click here or the picture below! For the FREE writing notebook cover and dividers, get the password to my Resource Library here! Or click on the image below to get the password emailed to you! Send it my way! Powered By ConvertKit For all of the subject covers click here or the image below! For the books click here or the image below for my Amazon Affiliate storefront! How do YOU launch Writer's Workshop in your classroom!? I hope this post gave you some ideas for your classroom! If you want to save these ideas for later, make sure to pin the image below!

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Subtle Mends for Unmentionable Areas I teach workshops on visible mending regularly, and by far, the most requested mend is the dreaded crotch repair. Luckily, it's a pretty simple repair. If you are like me, jeans are my favorite article of clothing to wear. And a well fitting pair of jeans is magic, and also tragic

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The workshop model is a great way to differentiate your instruction for all learners in your classroom. This post focuses on workshop for gifted students.

Add a touch of sophistication to your bedroom sanctuary with our exquisitely crafted Markus bed. Boasting a ledge all around, the Markus is low lying by design, combines sleek lines, a robust frame and bedhead, American White Oak slats (the only bed in our range) and a choice of leather or fabric for the headboard. Let the Markus work its magic and transform your bedroom space. The Markus is a design by Mubu and made-to-order, with love, in our Melbourne workshop. Buy once, buy well x

Welcome to my Carefree Florals Acrylic Painting Workshop, where the boundaries of traditional representation are pushed aside, and color & imagination takes center stage. In this RECORDED virtual workshop, we'll dive into the fascinating beauty of flowers, explore the medium of acrylic paint and learn how to transform blooms into a loose, vibrant, and fun piece of art. In this class we'll learn the basics of color theory, build up your painting skills, and layer beautiful and bold color to create a free and fun floral still life.  Whether you are a seasoned artist seeking to break free from realism or a beginner eager to explore shape, line, color and pattern as they relate to a floral arrangement, this class is for all skill levels! SUPPLIES Required Pre- Gessoed Wooden Painting Panel  (10 x 10) or size of your choice Acrylic paint set (This is a higher quality set, and this is more beginner/ budget friendly) Assortment of Brushes Palette paper Pad or palette Fluorescent pink paint  Floral arrangement (photo) for inspiration

Sara and Jasmine, aged 15, share their knowledge of 'How to Make a Stencil' for spray paint with other teenagers. Full AccessArt Members Only

Are your kids anxious or otherwise not self-regulating? The 5 Finger Breathing Technique can often work wonders. Free printable PDF included.

20 notecards - 5 each of 4 designs Blank inside White envelopes Size - 135 x 135 x 30mm Made in the UK

Learn how to teach and plan effective math mini-lessons during your guided math workshop in the Kindergarten, first grade, and second grade classroom. Read this elementary teachers' guide for tips and ideas of what to include and not include, as well as the benefits for your math instruction. Grab your free printable list of whole group math mini-lessons for Kinder, 1st grade, and 2nd grade for all of the math standards.

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By Presto Plans When you ask students to describe a character’s traits, determine the theme of a story, examine cause and effect, or even to try to guess the meaning of a vocabulary word, you are asking them to infer. Inference is an essential skill in English language arts, but sometimes we overlook the importance of intentionally providing the tools, strategies, and practice that students require to improve this skill. 1. BUILD A FRAMEWORK FOR EXAMINING INFERENCES According to Marzano, there are certain thinking and reasoning processes that have come to be recognized as “foundational to higher-order thinking” and inference is one of them. Not only that, but it is skill that is integral to comprehension in the ELA classroom. Students might not realize it, but they are actually making inferences all the time, which essentially means that they are making assumptions, educated guesses, and/or predictions based on the information they have or know from personal experience or their own background knowledge. Grab these free classroom posters to remind students of the meaning of inference as well as thinking/discussion stems they can use when they are inferring information. In order for students to understand how to infer, they first need to be instructed on what inference is and be given opportunities to practice this skill. The hope is that with this practice, students will hone this skill and begin using it automatically. To build this skill, there are four questions that Marzano suggests teachers pose to students to generate meaningful conversation and instruction around teaching inference: - What is my inference? - What information did I use to make this inference? - How good was my thinking? - Do I need to change my thinking? Weave these questions into your instruction, questions, assignments, and language to help students build capacity in inferential thinking. 2. TEACH STUDENTS TO SHOW VS. TELL Teaching students how to write using the Show vs. Tell method is an excellent way to introduce inferential thinking as it allows them to experience how authors use description and imagery that allow the reader to deduce information. Students will be able to see through the writing process that when an author is showing something, they are relaying thoughts, feelings, emotions, senses, and descriptions in the text in a deeper and more meaningful way. One of my favorite ways to get students to understand the difference between showing and telling is to have students write a paragraph about a time that they felt a very strong emotion (anger, excitement, sadness, joy, disgust, surprise), but tell them that they are not permitted to use that specific word (or synonyms for that word in the paragraph). Instead, they must show the reader this emotion through character, setting, and conflict descriptions. For example, Students will find this exercise challenging, but it will help them understand the meaning of inference and hopefully will have an impact on how they read between the lines of other texts they encounter. 3. INTEGRATE REAL-WORLD INFERENCES Students may not know that they are making inferences about others on a daily basis and, in turn, others are making inferences about them as well. Bringing real-world examples into your classroom activities will help students see that inference is not limited to text analysis. Below are a couple of my favorite ways to do this: - SOCIAL MEDIA A lot can be inferred from a Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram profile. Have students examine random social media profiles to make inferences about the people based on what that person posts, shares, and comments. I like to share these pre-made profiles and have students examine what they read, what they know, and what they can infer. You can also discuss the idea of “vaguebooking” with students. Vaguebook updates are intentionally vague Facebook status updates that prompt friends to ask what's going on. For example someone might post “Ouchhhhh!!! I can’t believe how incredibly clumsy I am… UGH. Off to the ER…” They intentionally are fishing for someone to comment to ask what is going on or, at the very least, are getting their friends to infer what might be happening. This makes for a perfect inference activity as students need to use the information they know about their friend to infer what the post may be about. I share these vague status updates I created as a fun classroom activity to practice making inferences. - MUSIC Another great way to speak your students’ language is to incorporate music lyrics that require inferences into your teaching. There are many songs that tell a story, but what exactly happens is not explicitly stated. These songs are perfect to practice inference as they encourage students to look closely at the lyrics to infer what is going on. Some songs that I like to use are: Two Black Cadillacs by Carrie Underwood Someone Like You by Adele Teardrops on my Guitar by Taylor Swift Some of these songs do have mature content and topics and work best for high school. It’s also important that you look at the lyrics carefully to ensure they are appropriate for your grade level or school community. 4 INCORPORATE VIDEO A unique and fun way to improve inference skills is to have students watch short films that have no words and infer what is happening based on what they’ve watched. One of my favorite video clips to use are the Hungarian Shadow Dancers who were featured on Britain’s Got Talent. Here are two performances you can use: The dances have absolutely no words, but audience members are brought to tears because of what they infer from the performances. Have students create a three column table where they record what they see (consider location, events, people), what they know from their background knowledge and then what they infer from the performance. If you have a younger audience, Pixar makes amazing short, silent, animated films that would also work perfect for this. I recommend starting with the film, Partly Cloudy. 5. INFER INFORMATION FROM IMAGES - WHAT'S GOING ON IN THIS PICTURE? Since 2012, The New York Times has been helping students fine tune their close reading and visual thinking skills through their popular “What’s Going On in This Picture?” feature, with incredible success. Together, with arts education organization Visual Thinking Strategies, they have attracted the interest of—not only thousands of students from all over the world—but the participation of entire classrooms. Here is a curated list of their 40 most popular/favourites to give you an idea if you are unfamiliar. Each week an interesting New York Times photo is selected with all captions and context removed, and students are challenged to look closely and infer what they think is going on in the photo. Students are asked to support their inferences with “evidence”, elaborating on what made them draw the conclusions they did, and to look even closer to see what else they might be able to find. They are also encouraged to consider the observations of others and respond thoughtfully. A few days after the photo is posted each week, more information is revealed about it. Students are then able to reflect on whether knowing more about the photo changes the way they see it, and if so, how. The goal is to get students “engaged in a writing or discussion activity”, and to ultimately foster their “writing, thinking, speaking and listening” skills. - MISSING CAMERA MYSTERY ACTIVITY It’s something you may have seen on social media - a lost camera or even just a memory card has been found, and someone posts the photos online in hopes of returning the presumably priceless memories to their rightful owner. One can make a lot of educated guesses about a stranger based on their photos alone, and in some cases those inferences might even lead to the camera’s return to its rightful owner. For example, you might see a logo on someone’s t-shirt and be able to determine their place of work, you might see a street sign in the background and be able to guess where they live. You might see a photo of a group celebrating a birthday at a popular restaurant or someone enjoying a yoga class at a popular studio. These are all clues that allow one to play detective, and hopefully a successful one. You can easily bring this experience into the classroom by having students play detective by giving them lost pictures from a missing camera and having them make inferences about the owner based on those images. They might be pictures of a wedding day, or grandparents meeting their precious grandchild for the first time; a once in a lifetime family vacation or a milestone birthday celebration. Whatever the case may be, you don’t have to know the people to gather some information on the camera’s owner. 6. USE SHORT STORIES THAT REQUIRE INFERENCE - THE CHASER BY JOHN COLLIER One of my favorite stories to teach inference is The Chaser by John Collier. The story is about a young man named Alan who is desperate to make a woman named Diana fall in love with him. So desperate, in fact, that he is willing to use a love potion! The story requires students make a great deal of inferences to piece together what exactly happens at the end of the plot. - ORDEAL BY CHEQUE BY WITHER CRUE Another great story to use is Visual story Ordeal by Cheque by Wuther Crue. This isn’t your traditional short story as the story is told entirely with images of cheques. Students must interpret the plot line, characters, and conflict based solely on the information shared on the cheques (the date, who it was made out to, who issued the cheque, and the amount it was for etc.). Put students into groups and have them piece together the story and present their inferences to the rest of the class. 7. HAVE STUDENTS SOLVE A MYSTERY Who doesn’t love a good mystery? Your students will love having the opportunity to get their collective Sherlock Holmes on by working together to solve a real-world mystery. One of my favorite real-world mysteries occurred in 1978 when a construction crew uncovered a buried ship underground in the middle of downtown. Students watch a hand-drawn video that tells the backstory, and speculate on the purpose the ship once served, who owned it, and why it remained buried for so many years without being discovered. Another way to have students solve a mystery is to present them with a crime and have them play detective. You can either do this by setting up a crime scene in the classroom and have them infer what happened. You can also share information, evidence, witness testimonies, and have students weave a story together and solve a crime. Try this out for free using my Who Kidnapped the Principal? resource. 8. SEARCH THROUGH THE TRASH Let’s be honest, most people don’t sit around pondering what could be deduced about them based on the contents of their trash. But your trash can actually reveal a lot about your interests, preferences, activities, and household routines. Another fun activity you can use to help students practice inference is to have them examine the contents of someone else’s trash to make inferences about that person based on their own background knowledge. Bring in some bags of "clean trash" and have students create a character sketch of the person it could belong to. Inference is a necessary 21st century skill that many students struggle with, but it can be developed over time, with practice. Inference skills improve the ability to bridge gaps in information and improve reading comprehension. By implementing creative ways to get students comfortable with inferring, they will realize that it isn’t as complicated as they may think. Need other ideas for teaching students to infer? Check out some of the other Coffee Shop blogger ideas below! Black Cat Inferences Challenge by Nouvelle ELA Teaching the Process of Literary Analysis Activities and Strategies by Room 213