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Grades

2 - 4

Estimated Time

Four 60-minute sessions

Lesson Author

Publisher

Student Objectives Session 1: Identifying Cause-and-Effect Relationships Sessions 2 & 3: Comic Strip Creation Session 4: Student Sharing Extensions Student Assessment/Reflections
STUDENT OBJECTIVES

Students will

Develop reading comprehension skills by identifying cause-and-effect relationships from sample book texts and in other students' original works

Formulate cause-and-effect relationships using an online or worksheet tool to organize and create a comic strip

Enhance listening and oral presentation skills through presentation of their completed comic strip

Develop skills in narrative writing and story illustration by independently creating an original story via a supplied writing prompt

Identify and interpret cause-and-effect relationships of peers' original works

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Session 1: Identifying Cause-and-Effect Relationships
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1. Introduce the concept of cause-and-effect with some simple sentences. On the board, write the following two sentences.

a. The students stayed in and played board games during recess.

b. It was raining outside during recess time.

Explain to students that the cause of something is always what happens first and the effect is the resulting outcome (or what happens second). Have a student volunteer go to the board and label which event he or she thinks happened first and which happened second. Once the student has successfully identified that sentence b happened first and was the cause of the students staying inside and playing board games during recess, explain that sentence a is the effect of sentence b.

2. Ask a student volunteer to write a new, action-oriented sentence on the board. (You may want to instruct the student to finish a prompt, such as "The dog...") Next, invite another student to go to the board and write an effect to go with the first sentence. For example, the first student might write, "The dog ran across the street," and the second student could write, "The car hit its breaks and honked at the dog." Note that for younger students, you may need to provide the prompts on the board and have students complete the sentences.

3. Invite students to write one cause and one effect sentence on their individual dry erase boards, on notebook paper, or in their reading journals, and turn and share with the person sitting directly beside them. At this time, it is imperative that you circulate among the students and offer assistance if and when a student is demonstrating difficulty understanding the concept.

4. After the pair-and-share session, invite one or two student volunteers to share their sentences with the entire class, and reinforce which is the cause and which is the effect.

5. Tell students that often an author uses cause and effect as an element of story writing and that cause-and-effect relationships are used to explain many science and social studies concepts. Explain that today students are going to listen to a read-aloud and determine the multiple cause-and-effect situations that the main character encounters.

6. Gather students together and share the picture book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Ask student volunteers to share what they may already know about this book (i.e., Who is the main character? What types of things happen in the book?). Explain to students that you are going to read the book aloud and identify the cause-and-effect relationships throughout the book.

7. Use a think-aloud after each cause-and-effect relationship to model and identify the relationship to the students. For example, read the first two pages of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and say, "I gave the mouse a cookie, and this caused him to want a glass of milk. So, I'm thinking that eating the cookie caused him to get thirsty and getting the glass of milk was the effect." Alternatively, have student volunteers identify the relationships as you stop for the think-alouds.

8. Create groups of 3–5 students. Give one of the Numeroff books to each group. Tell students to work with their group to list all of the cause-and-effect relationships in their group's book. Have students pick one team member to read the book aloud, one to record the number of relationships, and one to share their findings with the class.

9. Allow students approximately 15 minutes to complete this group activity. Upon completion, have various groups share their answers, as class time permits.

10. Explain to students that tomorrow's project is creating their own cause-and-effect stories in a comic strip format.

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Sessions 2 & 3: Comic Strip Creation
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1. Conduct a brief review session with students to access prior knowledge of cause and effect and to recall the picture book examples from yesterday's lesson. You can accomplish this by displaying the read-aloud text from Session 1.

2. If students are using Comic Creator or Make Beliefs Comix, access the bookmarked website and display it on a projector. If you are using printable templates, display a sample template on a document camera or overhead and project it for the entire group to see. Explain to students that, as referenced at the close of yesterday's lesson, today's lesson involves creating their own cause-and-effect story in the form of a comic strip, meant to be shared in a read-aloud format with the class when completed.

3. Based on the format or website you have selected, model the creation of a comic strip with the following prompt, "If you give a teacher a..." Model the steps to complete a six-panel comic strip. (This results in three cause-and-effect relationships). Model how to write captions and drop art and illustrations into each panel. Explain to students that once they print their comic strips, they can use art materials to add additional drawings and colors. Be sure to emphasize this so that students don't get concerned if their comic strip calls for an illustration that isn't available in Comic Creator or Make Beliefs Comix.

4. After completing the teacher modeling process, introduce the prompt that students should use to build their strip, "If you take a (third) grader to..." Explain to students that they need to brainstorm three cause-and-effect relationships to create their six-panel strip. (Note that older students may want to create longer strips.)

5. Distribute the Comic Strip Checklist and the Comic Strip Rubric to students. Review the checklist and explain that students need to check off each section as they complete it. Review the rubric and explain that their comic strips will be evaluated and graded based on this rubric. Tell students that their checklist, completed comic strip, and rubric should be turned in after their oral presentations.

6. Have students use notebook paper to brainstorm their story. Upon completion, instruct students to share their story with you for approval prior to beginning their work on the computers.

7. Have students access Comic Creator or Make Beliefs Comix and then create and print their six-panel comic strip, or have them take their template and create their comic strip.

8. After the comic strips are created, distribute art materials and allow students to add any additional illustrations, colors, and designs to their comic strips.

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Session 4: Student Sharing
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1. Explain to students that today is when they share their completed strips with their classmates.

2. Gather students to the read-aloud area and have student volunteers take the "author's chair" and share their comic strips with their classmates. At this time, call on students to identify the different cause-and-effect relationships they have heard during their peers' stories.

3. Collect completed stories, checklists, and rubrics at the close of class for grading.

EXTENSIONS

1. Gather a collection of comic strips for students to access during free or independent reading time as a reference when creating their own comic strips.

2. Share with students a nonfiction leveled reader that contains cause-and-effect relationships (i.e., science readers about weather or socials studies readers about causes and effects of the Revolutionary or Civil Wars.) Use this activity to explain how cause-and-effect relationships exist in the real world through science and history.

STUDENT ASSESSMENT/REFLECTIONS

1. Observe student participation in think-aloud sessions and group work to assess that all students comprehend the cause-and-effect relationships in both story texts and other students' original works.

2. Review each student's Comic Strip Checklist, and make certain all components have been successfully completed prior to accessing the selected interactive tool. Note that successful completion includes accurate cause-and-effect relationships.

3. Observe each student's ability to orally present their comic strips along with their ability to be active listeners while peers are sharing.

4. Use the Comic Strip Rubric to determine and evaluate students' abilities to apply learned information on an independent level.

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Engaging With Cause-and-Effect Relationships Through Creating Comic Strips - ReadWriteThink

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Grades 2 - 4 Estimated Time Four 60-minute sessions Lesson Author Publisher Student Objectives Session 1: Identifying Cause-and-Effect Relationships Sessions 2 & 3: Comic Strip Creation Session 4: Student Sharing Extensions Student Assessment/Reflections Students will Develop reading comprehension skills by identifying cause-and-effect relationships from sample book texts and in other

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When 2 Vowels Go Walking | Phonics Song for Kids | Jack Hartmann

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In this set of activities for kids, adaptable for grades K-3, parents and educators will find ideas for teaching about cause and effect. These activities are designed to complement the BrainPOP Jr. Cause and Effect topic page, which includes a movie, quizzes, online games, printable activities, and more.

Classroom Activities for Teaching Cause and Effect

Bad, Bad Day
Have students make up their own stories about a bad, bad day. You may want to re-watch the first part of the movie where Annie explains what happened during her bad day. Students can write their stories down or tell them to each other or to the whole class. Then have other students point out the causes and effects in the stories. They can write their ideas down in a cause and effect chart, or you can write on the board so that everyone can complete the chart together.

What's the Cause?

In a hat or box, write different effects on separate slips of paper. For example you may write "getting wet," "breaking an arm," "spilling a glass of milk," or "feeling surprised." Then have students pick an effect from the hat and discuss or write a possible cause. Have small groups share their causes and effects together. Then distribute one cause or effect slip to each student. Set a timer for one minute and see if each child can find the correct person to complete a corresponding cause and effect pair. When every child has found his or her match, read the causes and effects aloud and discuss. Can the class identify which person in each pair has the cause and who has the effect?

Family and Homeschool Activities for Teaching Cause and Effect

What Happens Next?

Start a story about a character who goes on an adventure where one event causes another. For example, you might start a story about a character that finds a time machine: "One day Moby found a time machine. He turned it on, and as a result, he...." Then have your child finish the sentence with the effect. After that, have him or her ask you to finish the next part of the story. Encourage your child to use and listen for signal words and phrases such as "as a result" or "due to" to help him or her consider the cause/effect relationships. You and your child may want to draw or take notes as you tell the story together.

If...Then

Play a game that explores causes and effects. Start off by modeling a sentence using the "if...then" construction. For example, "If I throw a ball, then it will fly across the backyard." You may even want to demonstrate it! Then have your child create his or her own "if...then" sentence. After each sentence, discuss the cause and effect. Try playing the game again later on while cooking together. How many "if...then" statements can your child construct while helping you make a simple meal?

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Cause and Effect Activities for Kids | BrainPOP Educators

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In this set of activities for kids, adaptable for grades K-3, parents and educators will find ideas for teaching about cause and effect. These activities are designed to complement the BrainPOP Jr. Cause and Effect topic page, which includes a movie, quizzes, online games, printable activities, and more.

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Between the Lions: "When Two Vowels Go Walking"

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Starfall Education: Kids Games, Movies, Books & Music for K-5 and above

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At Starfall, children have fun while they learn - specializing in reading, phonics & math - educational games, movies, books, songs, and more for children K-5 and above.

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Cause & Effect with Grog the Zombie and Sheep

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Grog and sheep experiment with ways to learn about cause and effect

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Created using PowToon -- Free sign up at http://www.powtoon.com/join -- Create animated videos and animated presentations for free. PowToon is a free tool that allows you to develop cool animated clips and animated presentations for your website, office meeting, sales pitch, nonprofit fundraiser, product launch, video resume, or anything else you could use an animated explainer video.

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Uploaded by Candice Burleson on 2016-02-19.

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Writing a Personal Narrative - Episode 1: Brainstorming a Story for Kids

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Writing a Personal Narrative: Planning & Pre-Writing a Story for Kids

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Use this video to help students understand the second step in the writing process: planning and pre-writing! The focus is specifically planning a personal narrative. This video is ideal for students in grades Kindergarten to 3rd. Enjoy!

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Writing a Personal Narrative for Kids - Episode 3: Writing an Introduction

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Writing a Personal Narrative for Kids - Episode 4: Writing a Draft

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Writing a Personal Narrative for Kids - Episode 5: Writing a Closing or Conclusion

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Writing a Personal Narrative for Kids - Episode 6: Revising

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Writing a Personal Narrative for Kids - Episode 7: Editing

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Writing a Personal Narrative for Kids - Episode 8: Publishing for Kids