Cause and Effect

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.)