Cause and Effect

Designed by: Kristin Reinfurt, Rosewood Elementary

Grade Level: Three     Subject: Reading

Core Curriculum: Recognize cause and effect. (3-CM10)

Overview: The students will listen to a story read aloud in order to discover the concept of cause and effect. With a partner, they will make a cause/effect puzzle from a sentence strip. They will then choose and read a story on the internet and make a cause/effect chart from that story.

Focus Question: Can you recognize causes and effects in a story?

Time Frame: Two one-hour class periods

Resources:

Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears by:Verna Aardema 

(**Note: Teacher could also choose one of the following stories instead: 
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by: Laura Numeroff 
If You Give a Moose a Muffin by: Laura Numeroff)

Chart paper

Enough markers (all one color) and scissors for each pair of students

Sentence strips

Tape

Pencil/paper

Computer lab (if available)

www.afroam.org/children/discover/discover.html

www.wirefire.com/

Culminating Assessment: The students will read a story on the internet. They will identify five causes and effects from the story. The teacher will use the following rubric for assessment.

**Note: The teacher may want to offer extra credit for more than 5 causes/effects accurately identified.

Instructional Activities:

Activity One: Read the book Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears by: Verna Aardema aloud to the whole class. Afterwards, ask students to name a couple of problems that they heard in the story. (Examples: A baby owlet was killed., Mother Owl wouldn't wake the sun., Mosquito gets smacked., etc.) List them in sentences down the right side of a class chart. Ask students to think about what caused each of these problems to happen. Discuss these and list them in sentences on the left side of the chart next to the corresponding problem. Tell them that when you read, it is important to understand what causes things to happen to better understand what you have read. Tell them that we say that the events in the left column cause the events in the right column to happen. Label the left column "Causes." Inform them that the events that happen as a result of the causes are called "Effects." Label the right column "Effects." Sample chart:

Have students return to their seats and sit with a partner. Hand each pair a sentence strip, a pair of scissors, and a marker. Ask them to fold the sentence strip in half (so there is a left and right half). Inform them that they are to talk with their partner and identify a different cause and effect from the story that is not on the chart. Once they have agreed, they are then to write the cause in a complete sentence on the left half of the sentence strip and the effect in a complete sentence on the right half of the sentence strip. (Encourage them to check for correct grammar and spelling.) They should trace their words neatly with a marker so that it can be seen easily. Explain that they are going to make these into 2 puzzle pieces separating the cause and effect in half by cutting one jagged or jigsaw puzzle looking cut down the middle. Demonstrate this cut with a sentence strip and then instruct pairs to cut theirs. (Each pair of students should have a cause puzzle piece and an effect puzzle piece as a result.)

Collect all of the puzzle pieces. Redistribute them randomly so that each student gets one. Instruct them to first read their piece, decide if it is a cause or effect, and think about what cause or effect should go with theirs. Instruct them to move around the room with their puzzle piece in hand reading the other students' puzzle pieces to find the complementary piece that makes sense with theirs. Encourage them to read the causes/effects and not just look for the piece that fits with theirs. When everyone has found their other half, have them sit down with their complete puzzle and new partner. Have them take turns to come tape their pieces onto the Cause and Effect chart and share their puzzle.

Later, the teacher can remove the puzzle pieces from the chart and laminate them to be used on an interactive bulletin board. Make a chart with 10 magnetic strips under the heading Cause and 10 strips under the heading Effect. Post it on the bulletin board. Put magnetic strips on the backs of the puzzle pieces. Place the pieces in a pocket at the bottom/side of the board. Allow students to find the matches and put the puzzles together on the magnetic chart. (This is a self-checking activity since each cause half of the puzzle should only "fit" correctly with one effect half.)

Activity Two: Review the cause and effect activity and chart from the story the day before. Discuss definitions of a cause and an effect. Post the culminating assessment rubric and explain it. Once in the computer lab, have the students log on to http://www.afroam.org/children/discover/discover.html. Have them click on the words at the top, "Myths and Legends." Have them scroll down the page to see the titles of all of the stories on the site. Explain that they are going to choose a story from the web site (which has other African folk tales like Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears) and click on it to select it. Model how to use the arrow at the bottom of each screen for them to click on to go forward in the story or to go back if they need to review something. Their job is to read the story and find five causes and their effects. On a sheet of paper, they are to write the title of the story first. Then they are to write their responses as a cause/effect chart with at least 5 causes and effects written in complete sentences. Remind them to model their chart after cause/effect chart from the previous day's activity. Monitor students as they work and answer questions.

**Note - If no computer lab is available, students could make a cause/effect chart from a class set of picture books (get multiple copies of some of the various Laura Numeroff stories like the If You Give a Mouse a Cookie books) or a story in the reading book. An alternate source for stories to choose from is http://www.wirefire.com/ which has numerous fairy tales to read.

Extension: Discuss folk tales and what makes these stories folk tales (characteristics of folk tales). What did they learn about African life and culture in the stories they read? Compare/contrast situations, emotions, characters, and solutions in folktales (3-CM-7)