Activity Objective

The goal of Cause-Effect Match Up: Building Early Reasoning Skills is to foster critical thinking and the development of knowledge by deepening students understanding of cause-and-effect relationships and making and sharing inferences.

What You Need

Prep Time:

20 minutes
- Prepare Cause and Effect chart
- Prepare Activity Cards
- Photocopy Cause and Effect worksheet (1 per student)

Task Time:

2, 20 minutes sessions
Session 1:
- Teacher reads aloud causes
- Students identify effects

Session 2:
- Teacher explains independent task
- Students complete Cause and Effect worksheet

Materials Required:

Teacher:
- Chart paper
- Markers
- Activity Cards worksheet

Students:
- Cause and Effect worksheet
- Glue
- Scissors

What You Do

Teacher Role:

Facilitator:
- while reading aloud causes and having students identify effects

Direct instruction:
- while explaining independent task

Supporter:
- while students complete Cause and Effect worksheet

Student Grouping:

Whole class:
- during read aloud of causes, identification of effects and explanation of task

Individual:
- when students complete Cause and Effect worksheet

Assessment Ideas:

- Use a checklist to track student participation and speaking and listening skills during the whole group instruction

- As a formative assessment record anecdotal comments on the worksheet providing students with positive feedback and next steps

Quick Tips

Activity Extensions:

- Link the cause and effect sentences with a connecting word
      a. For example: Billy was very hungry so he ate a sandwich
      b. Other connecting words include: because, so, therefore, as a result, consequently

- Make a list of connecting words and anchor this chart to the wall for students to refer to during writing tasks

- Investigate cause-and-effect relationships during a science experiment or history unit

- Have students work in pairs to create a tableau showing a cause-and-effect relationship

- Have students illustrate their own cause-and-effect relationship

- Create a matching cause-and-effect card game for students to play in pairs

Additional Comments:

- Providing students with familiar sentences allows them to make connections to meaningful contexts. Use the attached worksheets as guides and alter them accordingly.

- Emphasize the connection between a cause and an effect by explicitly stating the meaning of each. A cause is something that makes something else happen. When determining the cause ask why it happened. An effect is what happens as a result of a cause. When determining the effect ask what happened.

- Determining cause-and-effect relationships promotes the use of critical thinking skills. Understanding actions and their consequences is an important life skill. Developing this understanding also extends students' comprehension of texts.

- Building an understanding of cause and effect relationships is an important precursor to understanding and using cause-effect text structure.

Other Adaptations/Modifications:

- Provide a quiet work space for students disturbed by sound