Welcome to Kids Chapter Check-Ins, a space where we pause, think, talk, and write about great books together. Books are better together. So grab your book and let's check in. Hey readers, welcome. Today we're checking in on the One and Only Ivan by Catherine Applegate. This is episode 5 of the One and Only Ivan series. Remember, these episodes are broken down by page numbers. Before we begin today's episode, make sure that you've read pages 214 through 265, which begins with the chapter finally and ends with a chapter called Not Famous. If you're not quite there yet, you can pause the episode, read those pages, and come right back. It might be helpful to have your book and some paper handy for this episode. Take a moment to gather your materials if you need to. Ready? Let's check in. In this section of the story, Ivan's artwork begins to get people's attention. More people are beginning to learn about Ruby's situation, and Ivan hopes that his plan will help to create a better future for Ruby. Let's pause for a vocabulary check-in. Today we're exploring the word weary. Weary is an adjective that means very tired or worn out. You may feel weary after gym class, or an adult might feel weary after a long day at work. Now let's take a moment to check your understanding. You'll hear three questions about the word weary. Listen to each one and answer yes or no. You can answer out loud or in your head. Are you ready? Can a runner feel weary after a long race? Would you expect to feel weary after waking up from a good night's sleep? Can a character feel weary after facing a challenge in a story? If you said yes, no, yes, great thinking. It's time for our reading focus. Today we'll focus on making inferences. If you've been listening to other episodes of this podcast, you know that inferencing is one of my favorite reading skills because it's all about putting clues together. An inference is something that you figure out using clues from the story and information from your own knowledge. Let's look at an example from the text. If you have your book handy, open to page 231. On this page, the author describes people standing outside of the big top mall carrying signs on sticks. Specifically, the text tells us that these sticks have words and pictures on it. One of those pictures is a gorilla holding a baby and an elephant. We can use the clues from the text and our own knowledge to make an inference. The text says signs on sticks, standing in a parking lot, picture of a gorilla and an elephant, and on just a few pages before this, we have evidence that Mac is using a claw stick to get Ruby to do what he wants. And a local news station came by and took a video of that claw stick. Our brain might already know that sometimes people gather like this when they're angry about something. And our brain might also already know that when people see things on the news that they don't agree with, sometimes they join together to make a change. When we take all of this information, the words on the pages, and the information in our brain, we can make an inference that these people who are gathering are protesting or showing that they don't support the big top mall because of the claw stick and the way that Ruby is being treated. Let's try this again with another example. If you can, turn your book to page 221. On this page, Mac sees the new billboard that Julia and George have designed. Using clues from that page, what inference can you make about Mac's feelings towards this billboard? You'll notice that even though the author does not state how Mac is feeling, she really gives us a lot of clues that let us figure it out. Pause your podcast here and share your thinking with someone nearby. Grab a piece of paper if you can, or find a thinking partner. Take a moment to write or draw Ivan, Ruby, and Mac. You can simply write down their names or you can draw their characters. Now, give each of those characters a thought bubble. What do you think that each character is thinking in these chapters, but not saying out loud? Add those thoughts into each character's thought bubbles. Dig back into the chapters and get some evidence that will support your ideas. Pause the podcast here if you would like some time to write and draw. Pause the podcast here and share your thinking. Before we end today's check-in, here's something to think about as you keep reading. What are some other opportunities for inferencing that might come up as the story comes to an end? Keep this question in mind as you read the next section of the story. Thanks for checking in with me today. I'll see you back here soon for episode six, where we check in on the final pages of the one and only Ivan. Thanks for checking in with me today. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to follow along so you don't miss our next check in. And remember, keep reading, keep thinking, and keep talking because books are better together.