LESSON PLAN OUTLINE

JMU Elementary Education Program

A. Exploration of Cause and Effect using a Fiction Picture Book
B. CONTEXT OF LESSON
This lesson will be a part of reading rotations in the afternoon. I will have 20 minutes to meet
with each group. I will be the first introduction of cause and effect this school year; they have
learned about it in previous grades. I am modeling how to find cause and effect relationships in a
fiction book, reviewing with prior knowledge first. The review with prior knowledge will allow
them to make connections, which is a comprehension strategy they have used a lot this year.
Modeling how to find cause and effect relationships is developmentally appropriate for all
elementary students. I will be using a fun picture book because 5th graders do not get read to that
often, especially silly picture books. As we explore this comprehension strategy in the upcoming
weeks, we will go in more depth.
C. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand:
Students will understand how to use cause and effect relationships to aid in their
comprehension of a text.
Know:
Students will know how to define cause and effect and learn key words that indicate
cause-and-effect relationships in a text.
Do:
Students will activate prior knowledge about cause and effect through a real-life example,
eg, saying what happens when a person eats too quickly.
Students will identify cause and effect relationships in the book that we read together.
D. ASSESSING LEARNING
Objective
Students will know how to define cause and
effect and learn key words that indicate causeand-effect relationships in a text.
Students will activate prior knowledge about
cause and effect through a real-life example,
eg, saying what happens when a person eats
too quickly.
Students will identify cause and effect
relationships in the book that we read together.

Assessment of Learning
I will ask students at the end if they saw any
key words that showed up in our cause and
effect relationships. I will also ask them at the
end to define cause and effect.
I will take notes in this initial conversationcan students think of real life examples of
cause and effect? Do they even know what that
means?
Students will provide examples of cause and
effect from the book. These examples that I ask
for, that will be recorded on the sticky notes,

will show me that they either get it or they do

not.

E. RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING

English
5.5 The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of fictional texts, narrative nonfiction,
and poetry.
j) Identify cause and effect relationships.
l) Use reading strategies throughout the reading process to monitor comprehension.
F. MATERIALS NEEDED
-Chart Paper (in classroom)
-Markers (in classroom)
-Sticky notes (I am bringing these)
-The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka (I am bringing this)
G. PROCEDURE

Preparation of the learning environment

-I will have the chart paper, markers, sticky notes, and the book at the carpet where I will be
doing my lesson. The chart paper will be taped to the wall as well.
Engage -Introduction of the lesson
-Activate prior knowledge by asking students what might happen if they eat too quickly.
After they have determined an end result (for example, a stomach ache), explain that this is
the effect. Then ask the students what might have caused this (eating too much too quickly);
this is the cause. Finally, ask students what they think a cause and effect relationship might
look like in literature.
Implementation of the lesson
-Introduce the graphic organizer that I will be using for cause and effect on chart paper (See
page 4). Ask the students, How will using this graphic organizer help us better understand
what we read?
-Begin reading The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka. I will model for the first
few pages how to find cause and effect relationships. For example, how this Big Bad Wolf
thing got startedmaybe its because of our diet, so I walked down the streetI ran out of
sugar, and knocked on the doorit fell in (made of straw).
-After beginning to model, ask students to think about other cause and effect relationships as
I read the book aloud to them. I will stop reading if I start to run out of time.
-Fill in the graphic organizer with our sticky notes with cause and effect relationships they
heard while listening to the book. Ask guiding questions like, (1) What happened when the

wolf sneezed?, (2) What will happen to the food (the dead pigs) if you leave it out in the
open?, and (3) Why did the news reporters jazz up the story at the end?
-Write these relationships on the chart paper using sticky notes.
Closure
-Ask students one last time to define cause and effect. Also ask the students if they saw any
key words that signaled our cause and effect relationships. Then, review the key words that
often signal a cause and effect relationship with students and record them on the chart paper
for future reference (if, so, so that, because of, as a result of, since, in order to, cause, and
effect). The chart paper will stay on the wall for students to look at in the future.

H. DIFFERENTIATION
Students are sorted into reading groups based on ability, which makes differentiation a bit easier.
If a group of students is really struggling with coming up with their own cause and effect
relationships, we can flip back through the book together so that I can model this more for them.
If a group finished early with thinking of cause and effect relationships, we could flip back
through the book again to search for more. The level of thinking with cause and effect
relationships will also change depending on the student. Some students might only find cause
and effect relationships that have our signal words. Other students might be able to uncover some
of the relationships that are a little beneath the surface.
I. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO
ABOUT IT?
Students might not remember any examples of cause and effect relationships when we begin to
discuss. As a group, we can look at the book to remind ourselves of what happened. Students
also have a tendency in conversations to get distracted and go on tangents. I will do my best to
keep the conversation about cause an effect and our book. I do hope that students can make
connections, though. Finally, I will have to really monitor my time with each group because I
only have 20 minutes. I do not want to spend my whole time reading the book and then not have
time to actually talk about the most important part. If I need to stop reading part-way through the
book, I will do so as necessary.

This will be drawn on chart paper for our group discussion:

Cause

Effect