Georgia Standards

South Carolina Standards

Key Vocabulary

Materials

• Trash can 
• Pencil 
• Balloon
• Needle
• Word visuals (cause, effect, because)
• Masking tape
• Sentence card visuals

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Classroom Tip: This activity works best in an open space with room for students to move. 

REAL TIME CAUSE AND EFFECT 

• Demonstrate the following actions to get students’ attention:
• Gently kick a trash can. Let it fall to the ground. Ask students, “What just happened? Why did the trash can fall?” (The trash can fell because I kicked it.)
• Hold a pencil in your hand high in the air. Drop the pencil. Ask students, “What just happened? Why did the pencil fall?” (The pencil fell because I let go of it.)
• Blow up a balloon. Tie it. Prick it with a needle. Ask students, “What just happened? Why did the balloon blow up?” (The balloon blew up because I breathed air into it.) “What else happened? Why did the balloon pop?” (The balloon popped because I pricked it with a needle.) 
• Walk around the room and safely trip over a desk and fall to the floor. “What just happened? Why did I fall down?” (I fell down because I tripped over the desk.) 

Say, “When I tripped, it caused me to fall down. When I dropped the pencil, what did it cause? When I puffed air into the balloon, what did it cause? When I kicked the trash can, what did it cause? Each thing I did caused an effect (or something else) to happen. That’s ‘cause and effect’ and it is all around us all day long!”.

Work Session

TRAVELING WITH REAL TIME CAUSE AND EFFECT

• Ask students, “Have any of you ever driven a car? Why can’t you drive a car? (because you don’t have your license) Would you like to?” 
• Say, “Well, today I am giving each of you a special license to drive your own imaginary car. Sound fun? Okay. Let’s go!”
• Tell students to imagine a car in front of them. Tell them to open the door to a car. Pause. Ask students, “Why did the door open?” (because we pulled the handle).
• Say, “Now sit in the driver’s seat of the car and put on your seatbelt. Let me hear you buckle it”.
• Ask students, “How do we start the car?” Put the key into the ignition, push a button, etc. Tell students, “Turn the key. What happened when we turned the key?” (the car started). “Why did the car start?” (because we turned the key in the ignition).
• Say, “Okay…let’s drive around for a little bit. Where would you like to go? The movies? Let’s go. Take a right. Oh wow. I just saw that we are low on gas, so we’ll have to stop by the gas station and get some gas first”. 
• Say, “I see a big red light up there. What does that mean? Stop. Yikes! Let’s all stop. How do we stop? What causes the car to stop?” (putting my foot on the brake). 
• Say, “Okay, let’s all put our foot on the brake at the same time when I say three. 1, 2, 3”.
• Say, “Now the light turned green. What does that mean?” (go). All right, let’s put our foot on the gas on the count of 3. 1, 2, 3…Uh oh. Our cars won’t move. Let’s try it again. 1, 2, 3. Now it’s shaking and sputtering and it just stops. Let me see your car shake and sputter. OH NO! What happened? Does anyone know why it won’t move? (because it ran out of gas). Oh well! I guess we better get out and walk to the movie theater.” 
• Say, “Take your keys, undo your seatbelt, open the door and run to the theater before the movie starts. We need to get some popcorn!”
• Have students return to their seats.
• Ask students, “Did we just experience any cause and effect situations? Can you name one? 
• Tell students that cause and effect is why something happens and the result or effect of what happens. 
• Ask students to identify a cause in the driving scenario. 
• Say, “The cause is why something happens. When I can figure out the cause (hold up ‘cause’ visual), then I can figure out the effect (hold up ‘effect’ visual)”. 
• Tell students, “Always see where you can add the ‘because’ and that will be your clue to what the cause is in the sentence”. 
• Say, “Let’s think about the car we just drove. Listen to this sentence: ‘I pulled the handle and the door opened’. Now I want you to use the word ‘because’ (hold up ‘because’ visual) to find the cause. You see, every time you insert the word because it leads you to the cause!” 

CAUSE AND EFFECT DANCE

• Say, “Every time we say the word ‘because’, we are going to spin our hands in front of our bodies. (Note: Stress the word ‘cause’.) Remember, the ‘because’ shows us the ‘cause’.”
• Say, “Every time we say the ‘effect’, or the result of what is happening, let’s put our open hands and arms high in the air above our heads!”.
• Tape the visuals “Cause” and “Effect” on the wall about three feet apart from each other.
• Practice the dance by saying an example sentence with students. 

WORDS IN MOTION

• Say, “Now let’s try to break this down with some of the actions (causes and effects) we experienced when driving our cars. I’ve put them into sentences to help us.”
• Ask students, “What was the first thing that we needed to do to get into the car? Okay, let’s start with this sentence.” 
• Show visual of sentence: “I pulled the handle and the door opened”. 
• Ask two students to come to the front of the class. Tell them they are each going to get to act out one part of the sentence or activity, either a cause or an effect. 
• Give the first student “pulling the handle” (cause). Give the second student “opening the door” (effect). 
• Ask each student to show you his/her activity using a sound, whole body and the space around them. Encourage them to exaggerate and have fun with it. 
• Read the sentence one more time and then guide the class through finding the cause and effect by prompting with “because”. 
• Say, “Let’s try to decide which action is the cause and which is the effect.” 
• Say, “Now let’s see if ‘because’ (do action) can really help us find the cause.
• Ask students, “Where could we use the word ‘because’ with these words and make it make sense? If we put it in front of ‘the door opened’, would that be right? Because I opened the door, I pulled the handle? Does that make sense? (no). If we put it in front of ‘I pulled the handle’, would that be right? Because I pulled the handle, the door opened. Does that make sense? (yes). 
• Say, “It looks like we found our cause by using the word ‘because.’ So we figured out that the ‘because’ comes before which action? (pulling the handle). Can you tell me what the cause part of this sentence is? (because I pulled the handle – pulling the handle). 
• Ask students, “Where should our ‘pulling the handle’ actor stand while he/she does his/her action? (under the word “cause”). 
• Ask students, “If that is the cause, which action or part of the sentence is the effect? (the door opened). Where should our ‘effect’ actor stand?” (under the word “effect”).
• Say, “So, let’s see our actors do their actions when I call ‘action’. When I say ‘freeze’, the actors will freeze. Let’s practice that.” 
• Say “action” and “freeze” several times while the actors respond. 
• Say, “Now let’s say our sentence two more times while the actors are acting out their actions when it’s their turn in the sentence. This time, let’s add our hand motions when we say the cause and when we say the effect. 
• Remind students to spin their hands in front of them when the cause is stated (because I pulled the handle) and to put their open hands and arms high in the air above their heads when the effect is stated (the door opened).
• Divide students into partners. Assign each partner a different cause and effect sentence from the car scenario. Have the partners repeat the same process that the class used to identify the cause and effect of opening the door. 
• I turned the key in the ignition and the engine started. 
• The car moved when I pressed the pedal with my foot. 
• The car stopped when I hit the brake with my foot. 
• The car turned off when it ran out of gas.
• Allow time for students to perform their causes and effects for the class. Students should do the hand motions for cause and effect as the sentence is read and the actors act out the sentence. 

Class Tip: Review audience etiquette and expectations before students perform for their classmates.

Closing Reflection

• Facilitate a discussion to summarize the lesson.
• Ask, “What’s a cause? What’s an effect? What word can we use to find the cause in a sentence?” (because). 
• Ask students to write their own cause and effect sentence that uses “because”. Students should label the cause and the effect in the sentence.
• Finish the lesson by saying, “Let’s do our hand motions. The next time you have a sentence in front of you and have to figure out the ‘cause and effect’, whisper the word ‘because’ to yourself and try to figure out where it would fit in the sentence. This will alert you to the ‘cause’ which will leave the ‘effect’.”

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ understanding by observing students’ responses to class discussion and their participation in the cause and effect scenarios.

Summative

CHECKLIST 

• Students can demonstrate understanding of cause and effect by identifying the “cause” and “effect” in the scenarios and sentences. 
• Students can create a sentence to demonstrate understanding of cause and effect.
• Students can act out a cause and effect relationship.

DIFFERENTIATION 

*This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.

Ideas contributed by: Susie Spear Purcell. Modifications, Extensions, and Adaptations Contributed by: Peggy Barnes, Candy Bennett, Lindsey Elrod, Jennifer Plummer, and Vilma Thomas. 

Revised and copyright:  June 2024 @ ArtsNOW