Cause and effect chartBuild Background about the Text (5 minutes)
1. Preview the Text
Hold up a copy of Four Seasons for Fun.
We are going to read a book today. Can someone point to the title?
Run your hand beneath the title as you read it aloud. Read it again, and encourage students to read aloud with you.
There is a name on this book.
Read the author’s name aloud.
Who is this person? (the author) Why is this person’s name on the cover of the book? (The person wrote the words inside.) Let’s look at the photographs in this book together.
As you turn pages, prompt students to describe what they see and to predict what this book will be about. List students’ predictions on a board or chart. Then, invite students to talk about times they have done the things they see students doing in the photographs.
2. Introduce the Academic Vocabulary
Write the word season on a board or chart. Say the word aloud and invite students to repeat after you. Refer to a classroom calendar.
What is the date today? What month is it? What season is this month in? What kinds of things do we do outdoors in this season of the year?
Write the words autumn, winter, spring, and summer on a board or projector. Invite studentsto describe the weather, the things they see, and some of the things they do in each season.Open to the glossary in Four Seasons for Fun.
The words on the board are also here, in a glossary. You will see and hear these words as we read today.
3. Introduce the Comprehension Strategy: Cause and Effect
Help students recognize connections between events, or cause and effect relationships through real examples.
Watch and listen.
Drop a book to the floor.
What did I do? (drop a book) What did you do because I dropped the book? (Encouragestudents to recognize their behavioral responses to your dropping the book.) Sometimes,things happen that make other things happen. Let’s think of some examples. I’ll start. When I woke up this morning, looked outside to see what the weather was. Because the weather is _______ , I (e.g., carried an umbrella, wore rain boots, wore sunglasses).
As we read our story, I want you to think about how sometimes certain things cause other things to happen in a story. We will talk more about this later in our lesson.
Read the Text (20 minutes)
1. Read the text interactively with students.
Read the text aloud, modeling tone and appropriate word emphasis and chunking.. Brieflydiscuss if student’s predictions were true. Guide students in understanding that an information book is full of facts, and is not make-believe.
Follow the first reading with a secondary text and image walk through the book, focusing on important or significant parts of the stories that will help students in understanding the mainidea and details of the story, while creating a stronger foundation on which they will be ableto better learn and digest the focus strategy, Cause and Effect, later on in the lesson.
Now that I have read the story one time, let’s take a walk through the book again. This time, I will be rereading only some of the lines, and we will be looking at some of the photos. I will ask you questions along the way.
Point to page 2. Read the line on the page.
What season is it?
Now point to the image.
What is the girl doing in the picture? How can you tell it’s [insert season]?
Engage students in brief discussion.
Point to page 6. Read the line on the page. Now point to the image.
Why do you think the boy is wearing a coat?
Engage students in brief discussion.
2. Model applying the reading strategy to the text.
Use the book to focus on cause and effect. Read the book again, pausing on each page to ask text-dependent questions. For example, read page one aloud. Use the last sentence Each season is a time for fun to lead into a discussion of cause and effect.
Do you think this child is having fun? Tell me how you know.
Then guide students’ understanding of why the child in the photograph is playing in thesprinkler. Help students make the connection between the heat of a summer day and the child getting wet to cool off. Repeat the process for the remaining pages, helping students make connections between what the children in the photographs are wearing and doing and the season.
Assess Understanding (10 minutes) Choose one or more assessment strategies to determine studentcomprehension.
1. Have students summarize to show understanding.
Tell me what this book is about. Use photographs in the book to help tell your ideas.
Use students’ explanations to determine individual understanding.
2. Have students write and draw to show understanding.
Watch me draw.
Draw lines on a blank sheet of paper to make four equal parts.
My paper has four parts. Now draw four parts on your paper.
Give students time to draw. Then hold up Fun for All Seasons. Point to Season.
What are the seasons? (times of the year)
Refer to the list of academic vocabulary. Point to autumn.
Write the word autumn in one part of your paper.
Watch as students write.
Draw a picture to show what the child in our book did in autumn.
Repeat the process for the remaining seasons. Permit students to refer to Fun for All Seasons for help, if they need it.
3. Have students explain to show understanding.
I am going to show you a photograph. How is (are) the child(ren) in the photograph dressed?
Choose a photograph from the book. Give students time to respond.
Why is (are) the child(ren) dressed that way?
Give students time to identify the cause of each response. For example, the children on page 3 are dressed in coats, hats, mittens, and snow boots. Determine whether students can explain the cause, or why the children are dressed that way.
Extend Reading into Writing (10 minutes)
To further fortify text and reading comprehension skills, have students write a 1-2 paragraph book review in their notebook or journal, citing why they did or didn’t liked this book. As an alternative, students can write their own cause and effect scenarios to help strengthen the strategy they just learned.