Rebekah Gibson

Robert H. Elliot Award Application

April 16th, 2015

Cause and Effect Lesson Plan – Robert H. Elliot Award Application

Introduction: My name is Rebekah Gibson. I am student teaching in Weatherford, Texas at Raymond E. Curtis Elementary School. I am currently teaching in a first grade classroom with twenty students. The lesson that I will be teaching today focuses on our reading skill for the week, which is identifying cause and effect relationships in author’s writing. This lesson was taught to a classroom of twenty students, one of whom has been classified as an ESL student, one of whom is going to be tested for dyslexia, and one of whom is currently in the process of being tested for Special Education. There are seven male students in this classroom and thirteen female students.

Materials The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash by Trinka

Hakes Noble Colored construction paper “Snowballs” for High Yield Strategy Paper and pencils

ObjectiveWe will identify cause and effect relationships in various texts.

I will create examples of cause and effect relationships and construct a paper chain.

FOCUS

The teacher will begin this lesson by engaging the class in a read aloud of The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Lunch by Trinka Hakes Noble. This fictional book presents students with multiple opportunities to see the manner in which authors use cause and effect relationships in texts. As the teacher reads this book, she will pause for partner questioning and clarification of higher-level vocabulary.

Assessment

Turn to your partner and describe one example of cause and effect that we have seen in this book so far.

Can you define identify the main cause of the multiple problems (effects) we read about in this book?

INSTRUCTIONAL DELIVERY

Because this is the end of our unit on cause and effect, the instructional delivery portion of this lesson will be more similar to a review session. The discussion during this delivery will be student led for the most part, allowing students to use the knowledge they have constructed over this week to define cause and effect, share examples of cause and effect relationships, and analyze these student given examples to identify cause and effect.

Describe what is meant by the term “cause” when referring to author’s texts.

Describe what is meant by the term “effect” when referring to author’s texts.

GUIDED PRACTICE

During this portion of the lesson, students will participate in a cooperative learning High Yield

*Students will be formatively assessed based on their ability to identify the match to the cause or effect that they have been given.

Rebekah Gibson

Robert H. Elliot Award Application

April 16th, 2015Strategy, the “Snowball” fight. In this activity, half of the class is given their own individual slips of paper with causes on them from The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash, and the other half of the class is given individual slips of paper with the corresponding effects. Students stand on opposite sides of the room holding their crumpled “snowballs”. When given the go ahead, students throw their “snowball” at one another’s feet, then pick up a new snowball. Next, students unwrap their snowball, read what is written and then try to match up with the person that has the corresponding cause and effect. Once all of the matches have been found, the class will review the matches to determine if they are correct.

INDEPENDENT PRACTICE

Now, students will return to their desks to create their own cause and effect relationships. They will be given one to two strips of colored construction paper as well as one to two strips of manila paper. On the colored construction paper, students will write their own creative example of a cause, then write the corresponding effect on the manila paper. When students have completed writing their examples, the class will link all of the paper strips together to form a paper chain. This paper chain will serve as a visual representation of cause and effect relationships.

Task: construct one to two sentences that exemplify a cause and effect relationship.

CLOSURE

To close the lesson, the class will return to the carpet to share the cause and effect relationships they created on their paper strips. As students share, the class will create the paper chain that will be displayed in the classroom as a visual reminder of the structure of cause and effect relationships.

Our cause and effect paper chain:

Analyze author’s purpose for using cause and effect in writing.

How does using cause and effect in writing help an author tell a story?

Rebekah Gibson

Robert H. Elliot Award Application

April 16th, 2015

Modifications:Students in the classroom with individual IEPs will be given assignments that meet the unique academic

needs of that student. This includes giving some students extra time for completion and providing some

students with one-on-one support.

Reflection:

1. What did your students learn as a result of this lesson?

As a result of this lesson, student’s ability to identify cause and effect relationships was strengthened.

This skill was developed through the practice of identifying written cause and effect relationships during

the High Yield Strategy, Snowball Fight where students read one part of a cause and effect relationship

then had to pair up with whoever had their match. In addition, students created their own examples of

cause and effect relationships, which will ultimately lead to the strengthening their ability to recognize

such relationships in authentic contexts.

2. What did you like most about this lesson?

One of my favorite things about this lesson was the manner in which the planned activities engaged the

learner. A good example of such an activity is the Snowball Fight that was completed during the guided

practice portion of the lesson. These activities were engaging, cooperative, and kinesthetic while never

sacrificing the true purpose of the lesson, which was to build knowledge.

3. What did you learn from this lesson?

One thing that I learned from leading this learning experience is the value of planning learning activities

that are engaging. Students are more likely to enjoy their time in the classroom and to gain so much more

from learning experiences if they are given the opportunity to learn within authentic, engaging contexts.

4. What changes, if any, would you make if you were to reteach this lesson?

If I could teach this lesson again, I would modify some of the sentences that students were given during

the Snowball Fight activity. Some students struggled to decode these sentences during the game, which

led to a loss in time spent learning for them, as well as for their classmates. While time was taken out

Rebekah Gibson

Robert H. Elliot Award Application

April 16th, 2015from the activity to support the students who needed help, the other students became disengaged, which is

never the goal when teaching.