Today I did a mini lesson with my kiddos on cause and effect. First we talked about what the words mean (cause = why something happens; effect = what happened). Then, using the white board, we wrote some fun sample cause/effect sentences and the students had to figure out which part of the sentence was the cause, and which part was the effect.
After they got the hang of cause/effect, I paired them up with a partner and sent them off to write a sentence with a cause and an effect. They had to write the cause in green and the effect in blue. Then they could draw a quick picture to go along with their sentence.
After the partners finished writing their sentences and taping them up on the board, we met on the carpet again and discussed what we noticed about the cause and effect sentences. That is that all of them started with the effect and ending with the cause. We talked about how this is not always the case and came up with some sample sentences where the cause came first, followed by the effect. Then I sent them off again to come up with another sentence that was written in this order.
They had a lot of fun coming up with silly sentences, as you can tell!
I love this!! We are starting cause and effect this week!! I am totally going to be using this on Wednesday!! Today was a holiday and tomorrow I'm out for a PD day. BTW, just curious, are you using trophies?
How creative! I love some of the sentences your kids came up with…The bananas didn't explode, so they were safe to eat…LOL!
Thanks for sharing!
Michelle
The 3AM Teacher
I am your newest follower! I teach fourth grade as well. I love this idea since cause and effect can be so tough for some students.
Danielle
For the Love of Fourth Grade
I found you thanks to the linky party. I'm also a fourth grade teacher. Thanks for the cause and effect idea!!!
This is wonderful! I like how you have them examine the first sentences to see how they're all similar and then make new ones. It's really good higher-order thinking. I'm going to borrow this lesson for an evaluation. Thanks for sharing!
Great activity and love how it is student centered.
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