Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1. Learning Outcomes:
During this lesson, students will read and collaboratively discuss various components of
a news article (Pet Tiger Attack). First, they will discuss and identify what the article
is mostly about (the articles key idea). They will later discuss and identify a
cause/effect relationship within the news article. This will occur among other
opportunities to identify causes and effects within more isolated given examples.
3. Lesson Objectives:
Students will be able to follow along silently as the teacher reads, and will fill in any
words that are left out.
Students will be able to collaboratively discuss and identify the key idea of the given
text.
Students will be able to identify the causes and effects within given examples.
Students will be able to collaboratively discuss, identify, and organize information in a
news article to identify causes and effects.
4. Anticipatory Set:
Remind students that, last week, we began exploring ideas related to our new Taming
Wild Beasts unit.
o We watched some introductory videos, and discussed several different ideas
with one another. We talked about wild animals, their habitats, and some of the
reasons that they are sometimes taken, or captured, from them. We also
reviewed some of the unit vocabulary.
Ask students to recall the wild animal that we saw was found living as a pet in a New
York City apartment. (A tiger, belonging to Antoine Yates).
o Tell students that this is what we are going to be reading, and talking more,
about today.
At this point in time, move to the procedures portion of the lesson.
5. Procedures:
Have the students turn to page 184 in their books.
o Also display this page on the whiteboard.
Tell the students that the news article will be read aloud, but that they will need to
follow along silently.
o Inform them that anytime a word is left out, they must read that word aloud.
o Also inform students that, once we are done reading, they should be prepared to
tell what the article is mostly about.
Read the article aloud, leaving out some words for the students to fill in.
Once the article has been read, ask the students what the news article is mostly about.
(A pet tiger bit its owner).
o Provide students with a chance to share their ideas, and then have them record
the key idea in their books.
At this point in time, have students turn their attention to page 185 (also display this
page on the whiteboard), and tell them that we are going to begin discussing cause and
effect.
Read aloud the text at the top of page 185, which provides information about cause and
effect.
Next, provide the students with an example of a cause and effect, telling them what the
cause is, and what the effect is.
o Display the list of written examples on the whiteboard.
o First example: I stubbed my toe because I tripped.
Effect (what happened): I stubbed my toe.
Cause (why it happened): I tripped.
Then provide/review a few more examples, prompting the students to identify each
examples cause and the effect (examples obtained from
http://examples.yourdictionary.com/cause-and-effect-examples.html#oy0O4g0i4RPLLPlr.99).
o The baby was crying, so Dad picked him up.
Cause: The baby was crying.
Effect: Dad picked him up.
o He broke his arm. As a result, the doctor put it in a cast.
Cause: He broke his arm.
Effect: The doctor put it in a cast.
o The boss was busy. Therefore, her secretary took a message.
Cause: The boss was busy.
Effect: Her secretary took a message.
o Maria didnt follow the recipe correctly. For this reason, the cake did not come
out as expected.
Cause: Maria didnt follow the recipe correctly.
Effect: The cake did not come out as expected.
Tell the students that, now, we are going to reread the first paragraph of the news
article, and work together to identify a cause/effect relationship.
o Reread the first paragraph.
Ask students to identify what happened.
o The tiger was removed by the police.
Next, ask students if this would be considered the cause or the effect.
o It is the effect, since it is what happened, and not why something happened.
Use the graphic organizer on page 185 to fill in the effect. Have students
copy this into their books.
Then ask students what the cause was (why the tiger was removed).
o If students are struggling, point out the signal word (because).
o The cause was that the pet was a 450-pound tiger.
Use the graphic organizer on page 185 to fill in the cause. Have students
copy this into their books.
Reiterate to the students that the cause resulted in the effect.
o The tiger was removed by the police because the pet was a 450-pound tiger.
At this point in time, move on to the closure portion of the lesson.
6. Differentiated Instruction:
In order to provide differentiation for the students throughout the course of this lesson,
the students are gradually and continually provided with more independence. Being
that cause/effect is new to the students, they are first provided with direct information.
Next, they are provided with an example of a cause/effect relationship, and are
explicitly told what the cause is, and what the effect is. Next, they will work as a group
(with support from the teacher) to evaluate other cause/effect relationships, and will be
asked to identify each examples cause, as well as each examples effect. They will then
work to identify a cause/effect relationship within the context of the news article.
Although they will still be working with each other, and with the teacher, this will allow
them to generalize the skill of identifying a cause/effect relationship. Lastly, they will
independently work to identify causes and effects within given examples. This time, the
examples will again be provided in isolation, but the students will need to identify each
cause/effect on their own.
Differentiation will also be provided via the approaches used within the lesson. For
instance, prior to providing written responses, the students will be able to think
through and orally discuss their ideas. In addition, the students will be provided with a
number of active learning opportunities throughout the lesson. As the news article is
read aloud, students will be required to engage in the act of reading silently. They will
be held responsible for doing so due to the fact that several words will be omitted
during the reading that they will need to fill in. Students will also be provided with
active opportunities to engage in discussions with their peers, and will need to
continually record written responses based on these conversations. Furthermore,
regarding the identification of causes/effects, the students will not only discuss the
provided cause/effect relationships, but will also identify them physically (via
underlining and circling). As the group reviews examples together, the students will be
provided with opportunities to come up to the whiteboard in order to participate, and
identify causes/effects. Later on, students will follow the same process (while
independently using paper and a pencil) in order to identify causes/effects once more.
Utilizing such strategies will appeal to students different learning styles, and will also
help to make cause/effect relationships more concrete for them.
7. Closure:
Ask students to recall the difference between a cause and an effect.
o A cause is why something happened.
o An effect is what happened.
o Effects happen after causes.
o Causes result in effects.
Tell students that, the next time we meet, we will start by reading the news article again, and
will work to identify another cause/effect relationship.
Before the students rotate/line up to leave, have each student complete an exit ticket.
o The exit ticket will contain 3 cause/effect relationships.
o Students will be asked to identify each cause, and each effect.
Collect each students exit ticket, and have the students rotate/line up to leave the classroom.
9. Materials/Equipment:
rBook (Teacher edition, and each students personal copy, as well as the online version)
Pencils (one per student)
Interactive whiteboard
Cause/effect examples
Exit ticket (one per student)
10. Technology:
The classrooms interactive whiteboard will be used throughout the entire duration of
this lesson. It will be used to display the online version of the rBook, as well as the
cause/effect examples that will be explored.