#3743. Cause and Effect SDAIE Lesson

Language, level: Elementary
Posted Sat Jun 10 19:52:13 PDT 2006 by Christina Cota (tinacota89@yahoo.com).
Willmore Elementary School, Westminster, California
Materials Required: La Llorona and El Cucuy, both by Joe Hayes, one large blank index card; a pencil and crayons.
Activity Time: 30 minutes
Concepts Taught: Identifying Cause and Effect Relationships in Literature

Christina Cota
ELL Seminar -- SDAIE Lesson Plan

Lesson: Cause and Effect

Grade Level: 5

Content Area: English Language Arts

English Language Arts Standard:
California Reading Standard 2.0
2.3 Discern main ideas and concepts presented in texts, identifying and assessing evidence that supports those ideas.
2.4 Draw inferences, conclusions, or generalizations about text and support them with textual evidence and prior knowledge.

SDAIE Strategies:

Language and Literacy for Learning Content -- listening and speaking precede reading and writing activity.

Matches Content and Instruction -- Promotes learning by multicultural perspectives; allows students to demonstrate knowledge in a variety of ways.

Objective: To recognize that 'cause' is the reason something happens and 'effect' is the result; identify the causes and effects in a work of fiction.

Materials: Two Mexican folktales, La Llorona and ¡El Cucuy!, both written by Joe Hayes; one large blank index card for each student; pencils; crayons.

Introduction/Anticipatory Set:

Explain that a cause is the reason something happens. An effect is the event that happens as a result of the cause. To help students identify cause and effect, tell students to ask as they read, "What happens because of this event?"

Point out that students often recognize causes and effects in daily life. For example, they know it's time to get up (effect) because the alarm clock went off (cause). Explain to students that we look for similar things in our reading. Use common fairy tales such as the three little pigs to illustrate the point. For example, the first pig's house of sticks was blown down (effect) when the wolf huffed, puffed and blew (cause). Ask students to consider other examples from their favorite fairy tales.

Procedure:

1. After discussing cause and effect in fairy tales, tell students to listen for cause and effect relationships in the books La Llorona and El Cucuy.

2. Read aloud two brief stories of La Llorona and El Cucuy. Stop to clarify any words that may be difficult to understand.

3. After reading, discuss some possible cause and effect relationships as a group.

4. Tell children to decide which book they liked better. Pass out index cards to students and obtain pencils and crayons.

5. Tell students to fold their cards in half and label one side "cause" and the other, "effect".

6. Instruct student to then draw a cause and effect relationship from the story. Use crayons to color their illustration.

7. Below each picture, write a sentence which describes the cause and effect.

8. Students or teacher should display each card to demonstrate the various cause and effect relationships from the story.

Closure/Conclusion: Ask and discuss the following questions as a whole group: What were some cause and effect relationships found in the stories? Could we find cause and effect relationships in all books? In non -- fiction books? In real life? What type of cause and effect relationships have you experienced in your lives?

Extended Activities: Have students illustrate a cause and effect relationship from their own personal experience.