Teach / Model
To show how relating causes and effects can help a reader
understand the events in a story, display this sentence:
Antonio wanted to play basketball, so he tried out
for the team.
Then introduce cause and effect: A cause is what makes
something happen. An effect is what happens. Read the sentence
aloud and ask: What happened? Why did it happen? Display the
cause and effect chart:
Cause Effect
Antonio wanted to play basketball. He tried out for the team.
Model how to fi nd causes and effects: To fi nd causes and effects
as I read, I look for words like so, because, and since. Point out
so in the displayed sentence. Then say: Other times, I ask myself
what happened and why. That helps me think about how the
events are connected.
2 Practice
Use the Multi-Level Strategies to tailor the practice to students’
profi ciency levels:
Cause and Effect
• Ask: What happened?
Why did it happen?
• Look for signal words: so,
because, since.
ADVANCED
BEGINNING
Create several sentence pairs that show cause and effect relationships. Read aloud each
sentence pair. Then read aloud the cause or the effect, add a signal word, and have
students add the cause or effect. For example:
1. The man built a plane. He wanted to fl y. The man built a plane because .
2. The wings fell off. The plane crashed. The wings fell off, so .
3. Today, the plane stayed up. He fi xed the wings. Today, the plane stayed up since .
INTERMEDIATE
Have partners copy these sentences and circle signal words. Then have them identify the
causes and effects and add them to the appropriate column in a cause/effect chart.
1. Dad wanted to fl y to Boston (cause), so he bought airline tickets. (effect)
2. He forgot his tickets (effect) because he was in a hurry. (cause)
3. Since the pilot was late (cause), the plane didn’t take off on time. (effect)
4. Because Dad called Mom (cause), she brought the tickets to the airport. (effect)
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© Hampton-Brown
Cause and Effect
3 Apply
Have students apply the skill in a book at their independent
reading levels:
Amelia Earhart: Free in the Skies
After students read the book, have them complete these
sentences:
1. Amelia wanted to learn to fl y, so she .
(took lessons)
2. Amelia bought her own plane because .
(she didn’t like rental planes)
3. Amelia wanted to fl y solo across the Atlantic
because . (she wanted to prove she could do
it alone)
4. Since Amelia broke many records, she is remembered
as . (an American hero)
Esperanza Rising
Have partners review and discuss the events in Los Higos.
Then have them create cause and effect sentences to retell
the events. Suggest that they use signal words, and ask
What happened? and Why did it happen? to check their
sentences.
Julie of the Wolves
Have students work with a partner to look for
cause and effect relationships in Part II: Miyax, the girl.
Have them take notes in a cause and effect chart.
Cause Effect
Miyax’s mother died. Miyax and Kapugen went to live at
seal camp.
CLOSE AND ASSESS
Have students tell how to identify causes and effects and why
looking for causes and effects is useful. (Ask: What happened?
Why did it happen? Look for signal words: so, because, since. This
helps you understand events and how they are related.)
