Making PredictionsActivities & Teaching Strategies
Predicting in Year 1 grows young readers’ comprehension by turning page-turning into purposeful thinking. Active learning lets students practice using clues in real time, so they connect visual and textual evidence to their own experiences and prior knowledge.
Learning Objectives
- 1Identify specific visual and textual clues within a story that suggest future events.
- 2Formulate predictions about story outcomes based on identified textual and visual evidence.
- 3Explain the reasoning behind a prediction by referencing specific clues from the text or illustrations.
- 4Compare their initial predictions with the actual events of the story, articulating any differences and reasons.
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Think-Pair-Share: Clue Predictions
Pause after a story page and have students think silently about what happens next using pictures and words. In pairs, they share predictions and evidence like 'The dark clouds mean rain.' Regroup as a class to vote on top predictions before reading on.
Prepare & details
What clues in the pictures help you guess what might happen next in the story?
Facilitation Tip: During Think-Pair-Share, circulate and listen for students who name the exact clue they used, not just their prediction.
Setup: Standard classroom seating; students turn to a neighbor
Materials: Discussion prompt (projected or printed), Optional: recording sheet for pairs
Picture Walk Prediction
Display wordless picture book pages out of order. Students in small groups predict the sequence and ending, noting visual clues. Reassemble pages correctly and discuss matches between predictions and the real story.
Prepare & details
What made you think that would happen — what did you see or read?
Facilitation Tip: When doing Picture Walk Prediction, model how to scan the page left to right and top to bottom for clues.
Setup: Standard classroom seating; students turn to a neighbor
Materials: Discussion prompt (projected or printed), Optional: recording sheet for pairs
Prediction Chart: Whole Class
Before reading, chart class predictions on a board with columns for 'Prediction' and 'Clues.' Read the story in sections, update the chart with outcomes. Students add reflections on accurate predictions.
Prepare & details
What did you predict would happen, and what actually happened in the end?
Facilitation Tip: In Story Card Relay, step in quickly if pairs skip naming their evidence aloud before making a prediction.
Setup: Standard classroom seating; students turn to a neighbor
Materials: Discussion prompt (projected or printed), Optional: recording sheet for pairs
Story Card Relay: Pairs
Provide story cards with pictures and partial text. Pairs take turns predicting the next card's event, passing if stuck. Review the full sequence to check predictions.
Prepare & details
What clues in the pictures help you guess what might happen next in the story?
Facilitation Tip: During Prediction Chart, pause after each prediction to ask, 'Which part of the picture or sentence helped you decide?'
Setup: Standard classroom seating; students turn to a neighbor
Materials: Discussion prompt (projected or printed), Optional: recording sheet for pairs
Teaching This Topic
Teach prediction as a habit, not a one-time event. Show students how to revisit their earlier guesses whenever new evidence appears. Avoid asking for predictions without requiring the evidence, as this teaches guessing over thinking. Research shows that young readers benefit when teachers verbalize their own prediction process aloud before reading.
What to Expect
Successful learning looks like students pointing to specific words and images as they make logical guesses, then adjusting those guesses as the story unfolds. You’ll hear students cite evidence instead of guessing randomly.
These activities are a starting point. A full mission is the experience.
- Complete facilitation script with teacher dialogue
- Printable student materials, ready for class
- Differentiation strategies for every learner
Watch Out for These Misconceptions
Common MisconceptionDuring Think-Pair-Share, watch for students who treat predictions as random guesses with no basis.
What to Teach Instead
During Think-Pair-Share, redirect by asking the pair to point to the exact word or part of the picture that gave them the idea, then restate their prediction using that evidence.
Common MisconceptionDuring Prediction Chart, watch for students who think once made, predictions never change.
What to Teach Instead
During Prediction Chart, use a different colored marker to cross out and revise predictions as new story information appears, making the process visible for the whole class.
Common MisconceptionDuring Picture Walk Prediction, watch for students who rely only on the pictures and ignore the words.
What to Teach Instead
During Picture Walk Prediction, hand students a sticky note and ask them to find and copy one word from the text that matches a detail in the image before making their prediction.
Assessment Ideas
During Think-Pair-Share, listen for students who name a specific clue before sharing their prediction and note those who only guess.
After Picture Walk Prediction, collect students’ sticky notes with one clue and one prediction to check if they can connect the two.
After Story Card Relay, ask pairs to share one clue they used and one prediction they changed based on new evidence, then observe whether they revise their thinking.
Extensions & Scaffolding
- Challenge: Ask early finishers to write a new sentence using a foreshadowing word that could fit into the story.
- Scaffolding: Provide sentence starters on sticky notes for students who struggle to verbalize clues (e.g., 'I predict ___ because the picture shows ___.').
- Deeper Exploration: Have students create their own two-page mini book with a hidden clue in the text and illustration, then swap with a partner to make predictions.
Key Vocabulary
| prediction | A guess about what will happen next in a story, based on clues. |
| clue | A piece of information from the pictures or words that helps you make a guess. |
| illustration | A picture in a book that helps tell the story. |
| text | The words that are written in a book. |
Suggested Methodologies
Planning templates for English
More in Reading Comprehension Strategies
Asking and Answering Questions
Formulating and responding to questions about key details in a text.
2 methodologies
Identifying Main Idea and Details
Distinguishing the central topic of a paragraph or short text from supporting information.
2 methodologies
Sequencing Events
Ordering events from a story or informational text in chronological order.
2 methodologies
Comparing and Contrasting Texts
Finding similarities and differences between two related stories or informational pieces.
2 methodologies
Visualizing the Text
Developing the ability to create mental images while reading to improve comprehension.
2 methodologies
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