This document discusses how to make predictions about what will happen next in a story based on prior knowledge and information provided in the text. It provides examples where readers are asked to predict the outcomes of short passages. The document explains that to make a prediction, you should use what you already know about a topic as well as details from the story. Making predictions is presented as an easy and engaging reading comprehension strategy when you apply background knowledge and clues from the author.

1. Making Predictions
English I
NCVPS

2. What is a prediction?
A prediction is what you think will
happen based on what you’ve
discovered in your reading.

3. How do I make predictions?
• First, use information that you
already know. This is also called
background information or prior
knowledge.
• Second, use what the author is telling
you.

4. Let’s try it!
Read the short writing on the next
slide. Based on what you learn in the
example as well as what you already
know, make a prediction about what
will happen next.

5. John, Ann, and George were playing in the
backyard when their mother called them in
for dinner. They were very hungry, so
they came running in and forgot to take
off their muddy shoes. Their mother had
just had her cream-colored carpets
cleaned.
Make a prediction about what happens next.

6. Let’s take some guesses
1. Do you think mom smiled nicely and
told them to wash their hands
before sitting down?
2. Do you think mom laughed and said,
“oh, it’s just a carpet”?
OR . . .

7. Do you predict that the children’s
mother got angry at them for
wearing their muddy shoes on her
clean carpet?

8. If that’s what you
predicted,
you’re right!

9. Let’s try one more
Maya and Tony moved quickly as the
sky got darker and the wind grew
stronger. They grabbed as many
candles and flashlights as they could
find, and they placed them all over
the house. The air cracked with the
sound of thunder, and the lights in
the house flickered off and on again.

10. What do you predict happens
next?

11. What do we know?
• We know that sometimes during
thunderstorms when the lights
flicker, the power will eventually go
out.
And
• We know that candles and flashlights
are used when this happens.

12. So what’s your prediction?
Based on what we already know, our
prior knowledge, as well as what we
learn from the little story, we can
predict that the power will go out,
but that Maya and Tony will be
prepared with candles and flashlights
if this happens.

13. Good thing they’re smart,
and they won’t be sitting in
total darkness!

14. Making predictions is actually pretty
easy if you use what you already know
as well as what the author tells you.
If you do these two things, it can
actually be fun to guess what is going
to happen next!