Draw Conclusions About a Character's Motivations

Why do characters do what they do? In this Grade 3 reading skill, children read short stories and work out the hidden reason behind a character's action, even when the story never says it outright. Learners practice putting story clues together: what the character says, what they do next, and what the situation tells us. Then they test each answer against the text, choosing the conclusion the evidence actually supports rather than the one that merely sounds right. At the hardest level, children drag the right motivation and the clue that best proves it into a summary sentence, building the habit of backing every conclusion with real evidence.

Every character in a story has a motivation. The action is what they do, but the motivation is the character's reason why they do it. To find true character motivations and avoid traps, do not just look at the action by itself. Instead, gather story clues and connect them to real life to draw a smart conclusion. Finally, verify your idea with text evidence. You must find a sentence in the story that supports your conclusion.

• Reading & Comprehension
• Inferences
• Character Motivation
• Textual Evidence
• Drawing Conclusions
• Inference (Language)

• ENG-Y3-RC.11 — Understand what they read, in books they can read independently, by drawing inferences such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justifying inferences with evidence.
• 3R3
• RL.3.3 — Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.
• AC9E3LE03 — discuss how an author uses language and illustrations to portray characters and settings in texts, and explore how the settings and events influence the mood of the narrative

• Who is the Narrator?