Moving Beyond the Page / online
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Lesson 8: Cause and Effect

Getting Started

Questions to Explore

  • What kinds of patterns can be made? Found?
  • How do you find patterns?

Facts and Definitions

  • A cause is what makes something happen.
  • An effect is what happens as a result of a cause.

Summary of Skills

  • Recognize cause and effect patterns (M and LA)
  • Record observations (S)
  • Attempt to read text aloud (LA)
  • Set a purpose for reading (LA)
  • Predict what will happen next (S and LA)

Materials

  • A balloon
  • If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe

Introduction

Ask your child what it means to cause something. Explain that it means to start something or to make something happen.

Get a ball and ask your child to kick the ball. Ask him what happened. Explain that he just observed a pattern called cause and effect. Explain that an effect is what happens as a result of a cause. Kicking the ball is the cause. The effect of kicking the ball is that it moves. Explain that cause and effect is another example of a pattern. Events follow in a predictable order. The first event is followed by the second event.
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