Lessons & Units :: Cause and Effect 1st Grade Unit

Lesson 1: Effects

Lesson Plan

Learning Goal
Identify effects when given a cause in fiction.
Duration
Approximately 50 minutes
Necessary Materials
Provided: Cause and Effect Example Chart, Direct Teaching and Guided Practice Example Chart, Independent Practice Worksheet
Not Provided: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff, chart paper, markers

  • Teacher Modeling

    will explain that a cause is the reason why something happens and an effect is what happens because of something else. I will discuss the difference between cause and effect by providing everyday examples of both. (Example Chart is provided.) I will read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff and model identifying the effects of giving the mouse what he wants. I will chart and discuss the effects, stopping at page 4. (Example Chart is provided.) Note: Cause and Effect is a difficult concept for students at this age to understand. Therefore, it will require multiple visual and kinesthetic examples for support.

  • Think Check

    Ask: "How did I find the effects in the story?" Students should respond that you identified the causes in the story. Each time something happened you read the text and thought about what was happening next because of that event.

  • Guided Practice

    will continue to read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and work together to identify, chart, and discuss the effects from the middle of the book, stopping at page 11. (The teacher will identify the causes using the same chart from the “I”.)

  • Independent Practice

    will listen as the teacher reads and identifies the causes in the rest of the book. You will identify the effects for the causes that were identified and charted by the teacher. (Independent Practice Worksheet is provided.)

    TIP: Some students will benefit from a sentence starter when writing (or illustrating) the cause in the Independent Practice. For example, “The moose knocked over the paints because_________________.” “The moose washed the sheet because ________________.”

Standards Alignment

(To see all of the ReadWorks lessons aligned to your standards, click here.)

Build Student Vocabulary trim

Tier 2 Word: trim
Contextualize the word as it is used in the story When the mouse looked in the mirror, he noticed that his hair needed a trim.
Explain the meaning student-friendly definition) Trim means to cut something down to a smaller size. The mouse thinks his hair needs a trim. He wants to cut off some of his hair to make it shorter.
Students repeat the word Say the word trim with me: trim.
Teacher gives examples of the word in other contexts My dog sometimes needs his fur trimmed, especially in the summer when his hair makes him very hot. You might need to trim a piece of paper so that it can fit in your wallet. My mother wants to be trim, so she went on a diet.
Students provide examples What can you think of that you have trimmed? Start by saying, “I have trimmed ____________.”
Students repeat the word again. What word are we talking about? trim
Additional Vocabulary Words sign, notice

Build Student Background Knowledge

Stop after you identify the first effect ("he's going to ask for a glass of milk") in the text. Explain to students that a single cow produces 90 glasses of milk a day. Tell students that milk not only comes from cows, but also from goats, sheep, and camels. The United States is the only country that drinks mostly cows' milk.

Teacher and Student Materials Get All

User Comments

Is there a place to locate the lessons that are aligned to the Common Core and it doesn't bring up every lesson that is not Common Core?
Submitted by Kori on 4/2/13
Hi Kori, I think the page you're looking for is this one: http://www.readworks.org/user/alignment This where you can see the list of lessons aligned to each standard.
Submitted by ReadWorks Team on 4/3/13
Are there assessments that go with the lessons?
Submitted by Lynne on 8/19/12
Hi Lynne, All our lessons include an Independent Practice, to check for student learning. These activities generally use a worksheet, that can be accessed from the 'Teacher & Student Materials' section of the page.
Submitted by ReadWorks Team on 8/20/12
I can not load the student independent practice page. Any ideas?
Submitted by sue on 4/28/12
You can try right-clicking on the worksheets and opening them in a new page. Also, if the preview pane doesn't load, you should still be able to click 'Download Original' and get a clean copy you can print. We are so sorry about the technical difficulties.
Submitted by ReadWorks Team on 5/1/12

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