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Literacy · Years 3-4
How can I teach retrieval and inference with a short reading passage?
Separate what the text states from what its clues suggest. This original story lets children retrieve details, consider who owns a model boat and explain a character's possible reason for acting.
Download: The missing label: reading response
A4 PDF · 2 pages · free · no sign-up
Print page 1 for the activity and keep page 2 for teaching notes and answers or suggested responses.
Use A4 paper at 100% or Actual size. Choose by the task and your class; the suggested range is a starting point, not a curriculum-alignment claim.
How to use this resource
- Read the story and briefly establish what has happened.
- Locate words that directly answer the retrieval questions.
- For an inference, combine clues and explain the answer using might or probably where appropriate.
Make it easier or add challenge
More support
Read aloud, reread one section at a time and accept pointing or a spoken answer when comprehension is the aim.
More challenge
Develop an alternative explanation and compare its evidence with the strongest interpretation.
What to look for
Can the child identify evidence for an inference and recognise when a reason is suggested rather than explicitly stated?
Teacher answers and suggested responses
1. A small model boat without a name label, and a wet paper square.
2. Ellis said their boat had a blue sail; this boat had a green sail.
3. Probably Noor: Noor brings a replacement label, says the first fell in the tray, and the wet square has a visible N.
4. To help keep later models dry. This is a supported inference, not explicitly stated as Rowan's reason.
A useful next step
Printing, access and sharing
Allow drawing, discussion, practical materials or usual communication tools where they support the learning aim. Use separate paper if a child needs more writing or drawing space.
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