Reading Comprehension Lesson Plan Cause and effect A guided reading approach Grade Level: 3 Standard: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.

3.3: Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events Objective: After reading Millie Waits for the Mail (Steffensmeier, 2006) as a small group, students will recognize traits or feelings that motivate (cause) characters to contribute to the sequence of events (effects) in a story with 80% accuracy. Resources: Millie Waits for the Mail (Steffensmeier, 2006) Cause and effect chart

Instructional Sequence: Anticipatory Set: Discover what students know about cause and effect. Ask one student one thing that he or she did before they came to school. The student may answer by saying that she ate breakfast. Ask what the reason is for brushing teeth or eating breakfast. Explain that the cause in this case is because I was hungry and the effect is I ate breakfast. Introduce the following vocabulary: let down, lay in wait, wobbly, ruined. Ask the group to look and listen for these words as we read. Encourage them to use context clues to figure out the meanings if they need to.

Direct Instruction: Explain to the small group that we will be taking turns reading this book aloud. As we read we will be looking for cause and effect. Show the group the cause and effect chart. Add the example given in the earlier discussion (cause I was hungry, effect I ate breakfast)

Guided Practice: The teacher will do a quick book walk to introduce the book then read the first two pages while modeling fluent reading and expression. Ask if the group can find any cause/effect relationships in the first two pages. If so record them on the chart.

The students and teacher will take turns reading two pages. After each two page reading the group will pause to find cause/effect relationships. Look for participation from each student in the group. If a student is uneasy about reading aloud, read aloud with the student or have the student echo as you read. If a student is uneasy about responding, call on him or her after other students have modeled correct cause and effect choices.

Independent Practice/Closure: The next day students will be ready to practice together without the guidance of the teacher. Small groups will remain the same. However the teacher will work with a new group of students. The group that worked with the teacher yesterday will now fill in a new cause and effect chart for a different book. Each student will need his or her own copy of the same book. The group will listen to an audio version of the book while they follow along. The group will then fill out the cause and effect chart together.

Differentiated Instruction: The selected book is an easy read for most 3rd grade level students. Since we are working in guided reading groups, each group will be at slightly different levels of reading. For the lowest level group, Millie Waits for the Mail is a wise choice. The teacher should choose from his or her classroom books to find appropriate books for each group level.

New Vocabulary:

________________________________________________________

Cause
I was hungry

Effect
I ate breakfast

References Steffensmeier, A. (2008). Millie waits for the mail. Scholastic: New York, NY Common Core Standards. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/ELALiteracy/RI/4