Cause And Effect

Topic: Identifying Cause and Effect in Nonfiction Texts

Objectives & Outcomes

• Students will be able to identify cause and effect relationships in nonfiction texts.

Materials

• Nonfiction texts of varying complexity
• Post-it notes
• Markers

Warm-up

• Ask students to think about a time when something happened to them that caused a different outcome or effect. For example, if a student forgets their lunch at home and doesn't have any money to buy lunch at school, they might get hungry and have a harder time focusing on their lessons.

-Have students share their examples with a partner, discussing how the first event (the cause) led to the second event (the effect).

• Ask students to think about a time when something happened to someone else that caused a different outcome or effect. For example, if a student sees a friend getting bullied and steps in to help, the bullying might stop and the friend might feel safer at school. -Have students share their examples with a partner, discussing how the first event (the cause) led to the second event (the effect).

Direct Instruction

• Review the definition of cause and effect with students: a cause is the event that leads to another event, and the effect is the resulting event.
• Read a nonfiction text with students, pointing out the cause and effect relationships as you come across them. As an example, you could read a passage about how a farmer plants seeds in the spring and then harvests crops in the fall. Ask students to identify the cause and effect in the passage.
• As a class, discuss the cause and effect relationships in the text, using the warm-up activity as a guide. Ask students what caused a certain event or effect and what the resulting event or effect was.

Guided Practice

• Provide students with a nonfiction text and have them work in small groups to identify the cause and effect relationships in the text. Have each group present their findings to the class, discussing their reasoning for each cause and effect they identified.
• As a class, go over the warm-up activity again, this time using a different text. Have students work in small groups to identify the cause and effect relationships in the text. Have each group present their findings to the class, discussing their reasoning for each cause and effect they identified.

Independent Practice

• For independent practice, have students choose a topic of their choice and find a nonfiction text on that topic. Have them identify the cause and effect relationships in the text and create a cause and effect graph to show their understanding.

Closure:

• Review the main points of the lesson with the students.
• Ask the students to share one thing they learned about cause and effect in nonfiction texts.

Assessment:

• Observation during the independent practice activity
• Written reflection on their independent practice activity (e.g. what they learned, challenges they faced, etc.)
• Presentation of the independent practice activity (can be done as a class or a small group)
• Evaluation of the independent practice activity based on the task guidelines (e.g. demonstration of understanding of cause and effect, relevance of examples, etc.)