Lesson Topic:  Cause and Effect

 

Grade/Subject:  4^th Grade Language Arts (inclusive)

Rationale:  Florida Sunshine State Standard:

Standard 2:  The student responds critically to fiction, non-fiction, poetry and drams

            Benchmark (LA.E.2.2) Recognizes cause and effect relationships in literary

                                                texts.

 

Real Life Application:  Students must understand that their actions and decisions can

            cause things to occur, and will effect other people’s lives.  They also need to under-

            stand that the things that occur in the environment, world, and their everyday lives

            are not random, but rather an example of cause and effect.

Objective:  For the fourth grade language arts students to be able to demonstrate their ability to recognize cause and effect in literary text and real-life situations, so that when read aloud the story “Stellaluna” and given paper and pencils, they will be able to compose at least 8 sentences citing causes and effects from the story, and then write at least 5 sentences citing causes and effects that have occurred in their personal lives in the past 24 hours.

Prior Knowledge:  The class has been studying cause and effect relationships and has heard various texts read with cause and effect events in them.  I will review the concept of cause and effect with a few personal examples before beginning the lesson.

Content:

§         Review the concept of cause being why or how and effect being outcome

§         Talk about using critical thinking skills to consider what is happening in the story or situation, and be able to determine what the cause and effect of the events are.

§         Read the story “Stellaluna” aloud to the class.

Source:  http://www.firn.edu/doe/curric/prek12/pdf/langart3.pdf

 

Material: 

• “Stellaluna” book
• Detective “hat”
• Sharpened pencils and lined paper for each student

Procedure:

Hook:  I will sit in the author’s chair at the front of the room wearing my “detective hat.”  I will wait a few moments for the children to ask questions about the hat, then I will ask them what they think the hat is, and what we could possibly be doing? (If possible, I might also have a “pipe” with the hat.  Then I will explain that I am being a detective, and I am going to try and search for what caused some things to happen to Stellaluna.  I will then ask if anyone would like to be a Jr. Detective, helping me find some causes and effects in Stellaluna’s story.  Then I will tell the children that after they do their detective work, they will also be writing about some causes and effects from their own lives, and I will be choosing people to come up and wear the detective hat and share the results of your detective work, finding causes and effects.  First thing in the morning, I will insure that the children have sharpened their pencils .

1. Before the lesson begins, I will provide a copy of lesson plan to my Directing Teacher.
2. Before lesson, I will insure that I have enough writing composition paper for each student.
3. I will begin with the hook and wait for the children to be ready for me to begin.
4. I will then introduce the book and begin the “read aloud.”
5. During the read aloud I will ask some high-end questions:

 High End Questions:  “What was the effect of the owl swooping down on the mother fruit bat?”

“What do you think would cause Stellaluna’s mom to not come back?”

“What do you think Stellaluna will do to survive, as a result of her mother not being there to feed her?”

 Low End Questions:  “Do you think Stellaluna will get lost flying too far?”

“Do you think she’ll find her mother again? Why?”

“Who does it sound like when she says, ‘How can we be so different and still the same?’ Do you think people can be that way too?”

 

6. During the story, I will show the various pictures and discuss what is happening
7. At the end of the story, the children will be given paper and asked to write 8 sentences about different causes and their effects that took place in the story.
8. **[P.D.P. Classroom Mgt] Throughout the writing exercise, if a student becomes off task or begins talking to his/her neighbor, or trying to use someone else’s writing, I will use proximity control to get them back on task.
9. **[P.D.P. Classroom Mgt]  For students who are working quietly and diligently on their assignment, I will use praise and feedback by saying, “I like the way Wesley is working hard on finding his causes and effects and writing them down so he can share them with us.  He is being a great “cause and effect detective!”
10. **[P.D.P. Classroom Mgt]  At any point right before or during the lesson, if the “group” becomes noisy or off-task, I will use the Directing Teacher’s method of turning the lights off and back on to get them to quiet down and get back on task.
11. After 15 minutes (or so) I will ask if anyone needs more time to work on their cause and effects.  If most of the class is finished, I will begin choosing students to come forward and be the “cause and effect” detective and share their examples with us.
12. If any of the children do not seem to have the concept of cause and effect “down”, I will work with them as a group for a short time after the lesson (see accommodations.)

Closure / Review:

§         “What were some ‘cause and effect’ examples that we heard today?

§         Did you notice that almost everything in our lives has a cause and an effect?

§         Do you see why it is important to make good choices and pay attention to our behavior and actions, because they have an effect on other people’s lives?

Modifications:

Remediation:  Since this is an inclusion class, there are a few students who are still not fully understanding the concept of cause and effect in its entirety.  After the lesson, I will take this small group to the table and we will discuss some more examples of cause and effect, from everyday real life situations that have likely happened to them (IE: What is the effect of not tying your shoelace?  If you fall because your shoelace is untied, what is the cause?  What is the effect on you if you forget to eat breakfast before school in the morning?  When you go outside and you are very cold, what could be the cause of you being cold?  What is the effect if you forget to bring your homework to school?  What might cause you to get a bad grade on your spelling test?)

Enrichment:  Students who finish early will be allowed to offer help to another student who needs help coming up with examples of cause and effect, or they will be allowed to get a book from the classroom library and jot down some causes and effects from that book.

Accomodation:  For a child who needs special accommodations, such as their not being able to write fluently yet, in full sentences, I would give them a list of words that are causes and a list of effects and ask them to draw a line matching the cause with the effect (from the story Stellaluna). See attached sheet.

ESOL Accomodation:  For the benefit of an ELL student, while reading the book, I would be sure and let them see all of the pictures closely of what was happening.  Then, when it came time to write, I would bring the book over to the child and show the pictures again and gesture and describe the causes and effects in the story, and ask them to draw a picture or write about it, if they could.  Also, when the children came forward to share their causes and effects, I would also ask them to act out the cause and effect, rather than just read it to us, so that the ELL child might better understand what we are doing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Causes                                     Effects

 

Owl swooped down on bat.                  Stellaluna couldn’t find her

                                                        mother.

Baby bat couldn’t hold onto                 Stellaluna couldn’t fly like

the branch .                                       the baby birds.

 

Stellaluna got hungry .                       Stellaluna learned to be like

                                                        the birds.

Stellaluna lived with the birds             Baby bat fell into the bird

in the nest .                                       nest!

 

Stellaluna was a bat not a bird.           The bat fell to the ground

                                                        and dropped the baby bat.

The birds practiced flying with           Stellaluna found out she was a

Stellaluna.                                         Bat.

 

Stellaluna flew too far away.              Stellaluna learned to fly well.

 

Stellaluna met another bat.                 Stellaluna got lost.

Lesson Topic:  Author’s Purpose

 

Grade/Subject:  4^th Grade Language Arts (inclusive)

Rationale:  Florida Sunshine State Standard:  LA.A.2.2 :The student constructs meaning from a wide range of texts

Standard 2:  Identifies the author’s purpose in a simple text.

 

Real Life Application:  Students need to understand that there are many different types of books, written for many purposes.  Some are written strictly to entertain, some to inform, some to teach a moral lesson, etc.  In higher learning grades, students will need to know how to select texts based on the purpose for their reading, so this will introduce them to identifying author’s purpose in texts.

Objective:  For the fourth grade language arts students to demonstrate their comprehension of the term “author’s purpose,” so that after hearing the story “Talkin’ About Bessie” read aloud, and given paper and pencils, they will construct a paragraph describing the author’s purpose in this book, including an explanation as to why they think this is the purpose, by citing examples from the story.

Prior Knowledge:  These students have been learning about author’s purpose for a few weeks now, and are familiar with terms like “teach a lesson,” “entertain,”  and “inform,” “persuade.”

 

 

Content:

§         Review the concept of author’s purpose and ask what some of the different purposes are.

§         Talk about using critical thinking skills to consider what is happening in the story or situation, and be able to determine what the author’s purpose was in writing the story.

§         Ask if there could possibly be more than one purpose used.

§         Read the story “All About Bessie” aloud to the class.

Source:  http://www.firn.edu/doe/curric/prek12/pdf/langart3.pdf

Material: 

• “All About Bessie” book, by Nikki Grimes
• Paper and sharpened pencils for students

Procedure:

Hook:  I will sit in the author’s chair at the front of the room and ask the children if they ever dreamed of being something amazing.  I will take turns calling on students as they raise their hand, asking what amazing thing they would like to be.  Then I will ask, “If you could be the VERY FIRST person in the WHOLE WORLD to do something amazing, what would you do?” I will again call on students.  Then I will ask if anyone knows who the first female African American aviator was, and if they know what an aviator does.  Then I will ask them to listen so we can find out. 

1. I will first provide a copy of the lesson plan to my Directing Teacher.
2. I will ask the questions in the hook, and when everyone has had a turn to answer, I will begin reading the book.
3. As I read, I will show the children the pictures that are in the book, so they can visualize what is happening.
4. During the read aloud I will ask some low-end and high-end questions:

Low End Questions:  “Where was Bessie’s family from?”  “How many children were in her family?” “what was the chore Bessie had to do when she was little that she hated more than anything?”  “What kind of student was Bessie in school?”

High End Questions:  “Do you think Bessie’s family was very wealthy, and why?”

“Why do you think Bessie moved to Chicago?” “What was she hoping to do, or change there?”  “when Bessie flew in the ‘air circus’ what important rule did she change about the people who came to see her?”

 

5. During the story, I will emphasize certain characteristics mentioned by the person telling each part of the story.
6. At the end of the story, the children will be given paper and asked to write a paragraph telling what they think the author’s purpose was in writing this story.  I will remind them that sometimes there might be more than one purpose, so they are allowed to mention more than one, but should also be able to tell which is the MAIN purpose.
7.  During the reading aloud, if any of the children become off-task or fidgety, I will stop reading and remain silent until they are ready to listen again.
8. **[P.D.P. Classroom Mgt]  I will also use proximity control during the writing part of the exercise, if students begin talking, or get off-task.
9. **[P.D.P. Classroom Mgt]  I will use praise and feedback to comment on how nicely the students who are working diligently on their paragraphs are working.  I will also praise them for neat handwriting, taking their time in writing, and using proper punctuation.
10. After 15 minutes I will start asking for volunteers to come up and share their paragraph with us, telling us what they found the author’s purpose to be.
11. After several of the students have shared, we will talk about whether or not most of us found the author’s purpose to be the same.
12. If many of us had different ideas about what the author’s purpose was, we will discuss the reasons for all of the answers we came up with.

Closure / Review:

§         I will close by asking if we all agree on the MAIN author’s purpose in the story.

§         I will ask if the children felt inspired by Bessie’s story.

§         I will mention that an important “hidden message” in this book is that you should never give up on your dreams or think that you aren’t good enough to accomplish the most amazing things in the world.  No matter where you come from, where you live, how many people are in your family, etc. you can be anything you want to be if you are willing to work hard and not give up.

Modifications:

Remediation:  Since this is an inclusion class, there are many students who may not be able to readily identify author’s purpose, due to their level of reading comprehension and fluency.  I will spend a few minutes with each of them as they are trying to write their paragraphs and provide scaffolding and “hints” from various pages in the book, to assist them in finding what they need to write their paragraph.

Enrichment:  Students who finish early will be asked to think about the different parts of the book and the different “voices” who were telling the story, and see if they can find different author’s purposes in the different “storytellers” within the book, and write a second paragraph about it.

Accomodation:  For a child who has underdeveloped critical thinking skills, and cannot determine the author’s purpose, I will give them a list of important points about the story (critical thinking) and a list of possible author’s purposes to choose from, and ask that they circle the best one. (See attached sheet.)

ESOL Accomodation:  For the benefit of an ELL student, while reading the book, I would be sure and let them see all of the pictures closely of what was happening.  Then, when it came time to write, I would bring the book over to the child and show the pictures again, and emphasize the color of Bessie’s skin, the fact that she is a girl, point many times to the plane, and picture of a male pilot.  Then point out and describe the picture of Bessie when she becomes a pilot.  I will start by showing pictures of her as a little girl, in the cotton field, and say, “Here is Bessie when she was little.” Then I will show progressively pictures of her as she grew up, finishing with the one of her as a pilot.  Then I will ask the child why they think there is a book (pointing to the book) about this girl.  I will allow them to answer me verbally, or write something down, or draw a picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Bessie is a GIRL.
• Bessie is AFRICAN AMERICAN.
• Bessie is NOT WHITE.
• Bessie has 12 brothers and sisters, and her Dad left them, so they are poor.
• Bessie loves school and is very SMART.
• Bessie wants to be a pilot
• Bessie goes to college and flight school and becomes the FIRST LICENSED FEMALE AFRICAN AMERICAN PILOT.
• She becomes a HERO to African Americans.

 

 

This is ENTERTAINING (makes you smile, laugh, etc.)

This is INFORMATIVE (gives you valuable information about something)

This is PERSUASIVE (the author is trying to get you to do something.)

This teaches a LESSON. (We learn something from it.)

This DESCRIBES something. (like an invention or object)