Direct Instruction Lesson Plan Template

Grade Level/Subject: 4th/Reading

Central Focus: Comprehension- identifying cause and effect

Essential Literacy Strategy: Describe a process or topic

Essential Standard/Common Core Objective:

CCSS.ELALITERACY.RL.4.1
Refertodetailsandexamplesinatextwhenexplainingwhatthetext
saysexplicitlyandwhendrawinginferencesfromthetext.

Date submitted:

Date taught:

Daily Lesson Objective:

After reading A Bad Case of the Stripes students will be able to identify three examples of cause and effect using a
template. To be successful students must include accurate responses to at least 2 out of 3 cause and effect relationships,
found within A Bad Case of the Stripes.
21st Century Skills:
Academic Language Demand (Language Function and Vocabulary):
Language function: identify
Essential vocabulary: Cause, effect, because
Discourse: using the key words such as if, then, because, since, so, this is
why, consequently, therefore
Prior Knowledge: Based on the ELA CCSS Standard 1 for Reading Literature, students should be able to ask and answer
questions about key details in the text (K,1) demonstrate how to ask who, what, when, where, why and how to understand
key details (2) ask and answer questions referring to just the text as the basis of answers (3)
Activity

1. Focus and Review

2. Statement of Objective
for Student
3. Teacher Input

Description of Activities and Setting

When you are reading a story, what are some of the ways that you might be
able to tell what the story is about, based off of the front cover? (Students
might say by the pictures, by the title name, by the way a character could
look) Ask, can anyone tell me what he or she thinks that this book is going
to be about based off of the front cover? (Take a few of students answers and
ask them why they think this. Repeat after students have told the class why,
what they have said. For example, I see that the girl is in bed with a
thermometer, therefore I think she is sick)
Today you are going to learn about cause and effect. When we are finished,
you will be able to identify three different effects to some of the details that
we recall from the text. You will get the chance to fill out three effects to three
causes that I give you, on a small foldable worksheet. Good readers use cause
and effect to locate problems and details from the text about how those
problems might have been solved.
This is a cause and effect anchor chart. (Show students the anchor chart)
Cause is the reason or why something happens in the story. Effect is the result
or what happened. To find cause and effect, you have to recall parts of the
story such as a problem, and then also identify what solved the problem or
made the problem go away. As readers, it is important to know the cause and
effects of a story because usually the cause is a problem that needs to be fixed
or solved.
Everything in life has a cause and effect. If you study really hard for a test,
this is your cause, and you might get a good grade, which would be your
effect. If you forget your umbrella when it rains, this is your problem and it is
your cause. When you get wet from the rain, this is your effect because it is
what happens after your problem.
We are now going to read A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon. We have
already taken a look at the front cover and located based off of our good
reading skills, what we think the book is going to be about. Now we are going
to read the book and try to point out some causes and effects that we run

Time

2 min.

2 min.

20 min.

across in the book.

(Read A Bad Case of the Stripes)
After the book is over, demonstrate picking out cause and effect by using the
anchor chart. Show students that there are key words that help you to figure
out the cause and effect and they are if, then, because, since, so, this is why,
consequently, therefore. Tell students that we are going to take a minute to
recall parts of the story. Ask students to raise their hand is they can tell me the
main character of the story (Camilla). Tell students that the problem is usually
something that the character wants to change, fix, or figure out. To identify the
cause and effect I am going to identify the main problem in the story. The
main problem in the story is that Camilla Cream is covered in a bad case of
the stripes. Now, I am going to using one of our key words. Lets use the word
because. If my cause is that Camilla cream is covered in a bad case of the
stripes, because..she refuses to eat lima beans. She refuses to eat lima
beans is my effect and comes after I chose to sue the key word because.

4. Guided Practice

(Write this up on the board for students to see and draw an arrow from the
cause to the effect)
Now, we are going to identify some more causes and effects from our story. I
have six cards and I need six students to come up and volunteer to hold one of
my cards. (choose six students) On my cards, are events from the story. One
card is the cause and one card is the effect. It is your job to raise your hand
and tell the class which two cards go together and then, which one is the cause
and which one is the effect, using some of our key words that are on our
anchor chart. (Cards read: 1. she wouldnt eat lima beans because she wanted
to fit in (Cause) therefore Camilla had a bad case of stripes (Effect) 2.
Camilla screams (Cause) since She is covered in stripes (Effect) 3.
Camilla took the pills (Cause) so Camilla looks like a giant pill (Effect))
After letting students match up the different causes and effects, go through
each group and get a volunteer to tell the class which one is a cause and which
one is an effect. Then, ask the class to give you a thumbs up if they agree.
Do this for all here matches of cause and effects.

10 min.

Ask students to return back to their seats and get their table supplies out. They
will need scissors and colored pencils, crayons or markers.
For our activity today we are going to identify three different effects to three
causes that I have given you.
Pass out the papers and explain to students to fold the papers down the middle
hot dog style and then make three small cuts to separate the flaps. On top of
each flap is a cause. They read: Camilla recited the Pledge of Allegiance,
Camilla was a distraction at school, and The old lady gave Camilla some
lima beans.
5. Independent Practice

6. Assessment Methods of
all objectives/skills:

Read the three different causes that are listen on their papers. Explain to them
that they are to write the corresponding effects, using key words form our
anchor chart, under the flap of its matching cause. After they have written
their causes, they can decorate their worksheets like Camilla was throughout
the story. However, they must have written down their three effects from the
story first, as these will be what they are assessed by.
Criteria for evaluating students products follow: 5/7 will determine mastery
___ Has the student correctly identified 3 effects? (3 points)
___ Did the student use 3 keywords? (3 points)

20-25
min.

___ Is the students work neat and legible? (1 point)

7. Closure

8. Assessment Results of
all objectives/skills:

What was the main problem within A Bad Case of Stripes, again? (Camilla
was covered in stripes) And what is another word for this? (Cause) How can
we find what the effect is? (using the key words if, then, because, since, so,
this is why, consequently, therefore) And so what was the effect in the story
2 min.
to Camilla being covered in stripes? (Because she would not eat her lima
beans) Good job class, I hope that we can now identify some cause and effects
to what we are reading by using our key words.
15 students were there to complete the worksheet and out of the 15 worksheets that I
graded 9/15 achieved mastery. A possible drawback was that some students forgot to
include their key words.
If I were to do this lesson again I would try to scaffold the students who needed additional
help but I do not think it is necessary to complete a re-engagement lesson to the whole
class.

And Answer key goes as follows: 1. Camilla recited the Pledge of Allegiance (cause) so she
broke out into the flag (effect) 2. Camilla was a distraction to others a school (cause)
therefore the principal asked her Mom to keep her at home (effect) 3. The old lady gave
Camilla some lima beans (Cause) then Camilla turned back into normal (Effect)
Targeted Students Modifications/Accommodations:
Student/Small Group Modifications/Accommodations:
Struggling Readers: I will print out a template with the key
words if, then, because, since, so, this is why, consequently,
therefore printed out on it so that students have to just fill in
one blank which is the effect. This will make it easier for
students to organize their thoughts and to be able to translate
what they do know into a cause and effect format.
Materials/Technology:
-A Bad Case of the Stripes by David Shannon
-Six index cards
-Cause and Effect Anchor Chart with key words
Cause and Effect Worksheet: http://primarily-speaking.blogspot.com/search/label/Freebies

Reflection on lesson (if taught): On Weebly