Predicting Activities For Young Readers

The ability to make predictions is a skill we use in many aspects of our lives. We predict in regards to the weather, financial decisions, sporting events, our health, travel plans, and in so many other ways! But how do we teach students to make predictions in reading? Get started with these low-prep predicting activities that you can easily implement!

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What is Making Predictions?

To predict in reading means taking the information provided and your prior knowledge to make an informed guess about what the text may be about or what might happen next. Students use text evidence to confirm or revise their predictions while reading. They need to justify their thinking with text evidence.

Why is Making Predictions Important?

Teaching students to make predictions while reading helps them become more critical thinkers. It keeps readers actively engaged in reading as they are curious about what might happen next. While it may seem like a simple skill, making predictions encourages reading engagement, critical thinking, and multiple comprehension skills.

Making predictions helps students:

Think critically about the text.
Anticipate the character’s actions and plot events.
Confirm and revise their thinking.
Use text evidence to justify their thinking.
Make connections to deepen understanding.
Set a purpose for reading.
Ask thoughtful questions.
Actively engage with the text.

Whole Group Predicting Activities

These low-prep predicting activities are ideal to use for whole-group instruction.

Quotation Mingle – Provide quotes from the article or story you are going to read. Students can discuss and make predictions based on the quotes before reading.

Mystery Bags – Place a few items related to the story in a mystery bag. Ask students to make predictions about the story based on the clues they gather from the objects.

Prediction Pictures – Show students individual photographs or illustrations to predict what might happen next. You can also show images from the text you’re going to read for them to predict what the text will be about.

Story Snippet – Read aloud a short sample of the text. Students can share their predictions with a buddy.

Four Corners – As students share predictions, separate them into different corners of the room. Once you have a different prediction in each corner, the rest of the students can join the corner with the prediction that is the same as theirs. The group can discuss the evidence that supports their prediction and share it with the class. It’s even fun to let that group have a little victory dance when their prediction is confirmed in the text!

Predicting with Animated Shorts

Animated shorts are a fun way to work on making predictions. Preview the short film to find stopping points where students can predict what might happen next. After watching, students can confirm or revise their predictions.

Some suggested animated shorts for making predictions:

Small Group Predicting Activities

These predicting activities are ideal for students to do collaboratively or independently during literacy center and your small group instruction.

Making Predictions Graphic Organizer

Students can complete a graphic organizer to practice making predictions during literacy centers or independent reading.

Reading Response Prompts

Students can practice making inferences during independent reading. Provide them with reading response prompts they can write about any text they’re reading. Not only does this provide students with an opportunity for authentic reading and writing practice, but it requires NO PREP for you!

Some predictions reading response prompts you could use:

Make a prediction about what will happen next in the story. Confirm or revise your prediction after reading more.
Predict what might happen and state the evidence that supports your prediction.
What will the character probably do in the future?
How might the character solve the problem?
If there was another book, what do you predict would happen?
If the story continued, what might the character(s) do next?

Strategies for Making Predictions

Depending on your students’ needs, they may require different levels of support when predicting. These are strategies you can implement to support students with this skill.

Activate Prior Knowledge

In order to predict, students must have some background knowledge about the topic or theme. Discuss relevant background information, concepts or vocabulary related to the text to provide a foundation for making predictions. This will also assist them with making connections to predict.

Preview the Text

Examine titles, headings, subheadings, illustrations, and any highlighted or bolded text prior to reading. This can provide clues about the content and help students make initial predictions. You may need to ask questions to prompt them to make predictions. Such as: “Based on (title, heading, picture, etc) what do you think this might be about?”

Scaffold Students’ Thinking

Introduce making predictions anchor charts or anticipation guides to scaffold students’ thinking. These tools provide help structure their thinking and allow them to be more intentional while reading.

Cross-Curricular Predicting Activities

Making Predictions is not just a reading strategy. Students can practice making predictions across different subject areas. Predicting requires observation and connecting to background knowledge to predict what might happen.

Making Predictions in Math

In math, making predictions often involves applying mathematical models to describe and predict patterns, relationships, or outcomes. An easy way for students to predict in math is with patterns. They can use what they observe in order to predict what will come next in the pattern.

Making Predictions in Science

Making predictions in science involves using observations, data, and existing knowledge to predict future outcomes or trends. Experiments are an obvious opportunity for students to make predictions or a hypothesis. These are If/Then statements using what is known to predict what will be observed. These predictions can be revised or confirmed once new data and observations are documented.

Teacher Tips for Predicting

Make sure you preview the animated short or text that you are going to use to practice making predictions. Create stopping points and jot down the questions /prompts you want to use on a sticky note.

It is essential that students justify their thinking and explain WHY they made a prediction. This enhances their ability to think critically. Encourage them to support their thinking with a sentence stem: “I predict ___ because text evidence.”

Some students can get concerned about being “wrong” but assure them that is it OKAY to revise our thinking as we read. In fact, that’s what good readers do all the time!