Teaching Cause and Effect RelationshipsJoanna Kasda

Objective

By the end of this session, participants will be familiar with strategies they can use when teaching their readers about cause and effect relationships.

When you see this cartoon, what does it make you think of in terms of teaching reading?

What do you think of when teaching cause and effect

relationships to your students?

SoMIRAC Conference

Cause-Effect Text Structure: This text structure presents the causal relationship between a specific event, idea, or concept and the events, ideas, or concept that follow.

Signal Words and Phrases: consequently, therefore, so, for this reason, thus, as a result, because, since, due to (the fact), if/then, which led to, may be due to

-Jennifer Fontenot (2011)

What the research says:

Students should be provided with opportunities to learn concepts from literature sources. In order to represent the cause and effect relationship, students need to be aware of making predictions to understand cause and effect relationships (Bolton, 2007).

Learning is enhanced when new information is integrated with the student’s prior knowledge and students who are engaged in activating prior knowledge are likely to understand and recall more of what they read (Stahl, 2004).

What does this mean for us?

Connection to the Reading Behavior Checklists: Students are asked to demonstrate

comprehension when listening and reading (thinking within, beyond, and about the text)

This appears on all reading behavior checklists

Connection to the Reading Behavior Checklists: Thinking beyond the text: predicting, making

connections, synthesizing, and inferring

Connection to Joanna and Elizabeth

We collaborated for Joanna to demonstrate cause and effect instruction using literary text with Elizabeth’s whole class and one guided reading group.

We co-planned and co-taught one whole group lesson about cause and effect relationships.

Common threads throughout all lessons: Making connections to prior knowledge to facilitate

predictions about the events of the story Thinking aloud about what is happening in the text and

why it is happening Positive impact of using graphic organizers to help

students make the connection between causes and effects

What are some ways I can do this in my classroom?The Day Jimmy’s

Boa Ate the Wash Read the story Chart the events of the

story on a t-chart On the other side of the t-

chart, record the reasons why these events happened

Explain to students that these are causes and effects. Reveal the definitions and terms.

Cause: what makes something happen

Effect: what happened Puzzle pieces activity—

students match cause and effect puzzle pieces

What about guided reading groups?

Select an instructional level guided reading text that lends itself to cause and effect relationships.

Students can locate cause and effect relationships within the text.

Students can use graphic organizers to record the cause and effect relationships.

Let’s see it in action!

Ms. Kasda teaching a reading group about cause and effect relationships

Co-taught Lesson Kidspiration Webs Student writing

assignment

Extensions/Important Ideas Connect to students’ lives! Activate prior knowledge before reading.

Have students make predictions about what is happening during reading. Have students discuss what is happening in the text!

PRIAG: Pages 20-21—Useful prompts for guided reading instruction Use Kidspiration webs to visually organize cause and effect

relationships Reading A-Z.com: graphic organizers and leveled text that are

written for cause and effect lessons ReadWriteThink.org: classroom resources for whole group and small

group instruction Have students make cartoons illustrating cause and effect

relationships Have students use puzzle pieces to match corresponding causes

and effects Display key cause and effect terms in an accessible location in the

classroom

Other ideas? Questions? Comments?

“The more that you read, the more things that you’ll know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” –Dr. Seuss

References

Bolton, F. (2007). Top-level structures. Retrieved from Teaching K-8.com.

 Stahl, K.A.D. (2004). Proof, practice, and promise: Comprehension strategy instruction

in the primary grades. The Reading Teacher, 57(7), 598-609.