LESSON PLAN OUTLINE

JMU Elementary Education Program

Evelyn Payne
Carrie Lillard, 4th grade, Mountain View Elementary School
March 1st, 2017 at 12:00
February 20th, 2017

A. Identifying Cause and Effect in If you Give a Mouse a Cookie/Reading Comprehension

B. CONTEXT OF LESSON
What pre-assessment did you do that tells you the students readiness, interests, and/or learning
preferences?
Students will have spent the past two weeks working on cause and effect. The cooperating teacher,
Mrs. Lillard, administered a quiz on cause and effect on February 16 th. The children who scored lower
than the rest of the class and need extra work with cause and effect will complete this lesson with me.

Why is this an appropriate activity for these students at this time?

This is an appropriate activity for these students at this time because the class is wrapping up its
section on cause and effect and moving on to making inference while reading. Students having a good
grasp and understanding of cause and effect will have an easier time of making inferences while
reading different texts. This lesson will give students who are struggling with cause and effect extra
practice before they move on to a new topic.

How does this lesson fit in the curriculum sequence?

This lesson fits nicely into the curriculum sequence. It is to be completed shortly after the students are
quizzed on cause and effect, which will determine what students need more practice in this area. Cause
and effect are also included in the fourth grade Virginia Reading SOLs. The SOLs state that while
reading fictional texts, students should be able to identify cause and effect relationships. This lesson
will serve as a bit of remediation for those students who need to work more with cause and effect.

How does this lesson fit with what you know about child development?
According to [Link], some cognitive milestones of fourth graders include predicting
consequences of different actions as well as understanding how things are connected. Students in this
grade level can learn how events are connected and possible outcomes of actions through looking at
cause and effect in various texts, and by creating their own cause and effect scenarios.

[Link]
milestones/developmental-milestones-for-typical-fourth-and-fifth-graders

C. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand Students will Know Students will know what Do Students will create and
understand the role of cause and cause and effect mean. Children will illustrate their own series of cause
effect within the plot of If you Give know how to illustrate cause and and effects. Students will also
a Mouse a Cookie. effect scenarios. Children will know complete an after reading quiz on
how to identify cause and effect cause and effect, and on the book If
within a text. you Give a Mouse a Cookie to test
for comprehension.
 Name Understand Know Do

Brisel

Kristen

Karen Left to be pulled out of class

before she was able to take
the quiz, and did not share
her cause and effect pictures
because she was shy

Anahi

Left to be pulled out of class

Alexis before he was able to take the
quiz

Sam

D. ASSESSING LEARNING
If order to assess learning, the students will complete an online quiz on [Link] The quiz
will test them on the overall meaning of cause and effect, as well as direct examples of cause and
effect from the book If you Give a Mouse a Cookie. At the time of the lesson, there will be a chart
with the above learning standards as well as the students names of the small group I am teaching in
order to record the assessment. I did not have the list of names at the time when I was writing this
lesson plan.

E. RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING (and NATIONAL STANDARDS if required)

4.5 The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of fictional texts, narrative
nonfiction texts, and poetry.
j) Identify cause and effect relationships.

F. MATERIALS NEEDED
If you Give a Mouse a Cookie book: Evelyn
Computers/Laptops: Carrie Lillard
Cause and effect scenarios: Evelyn
Cause and Effect worksheet: Evelyn
Colored Pencils: Carrie Lillard
Scissors: Carrie Lillard

G. PROCEDURE
Engage -Introduction of the lesson:
 Hello boys and girls. Today we are going to review cause and effect. I am going to read If you
give a Mouse a Cookie and together will point out different causes and effects throughout the
book. Before we do that, I want us to review what cause and effect mean. Can anyone raise their
hand and explain what cause means?

The students could possibly say, Cause is the reason why something happened. However,
students could possibly have the definition of cause and effect confused since this is a type of
remediation lesson. Students could say, Cause is the result of what happened. If students do
confuse the definitions of cause and effect I will say, That sounds like cause (or effect
depending on the definition we are currently working on), could someone maybe try it again for
me?

Good job guys. Cause is the reason why something happened. Now, can anyone raise their hand
and explain what effect means?

The students could possibly say, Effect is what happened as a result of the cause. Again
however, students could get the definitions of cause and effect mixed up. If that happens I will
say, That sounds like the definition we gave for cause. If cause is the reason why something
happened, what do we think effect could be? Hopefully students will then determine the correct
definition of cause and effect.

Once the right definition for effect is given, I will say, Good job guys. So a cause is the reason
why something happened, and an effect is what happened as a result of the cause. So when you
think of the word cause, think WHY; and when you think of the word effect, think WHAT. Can
anyone raise their hand and give me an example of a cause and effect?

Students could give any number of cause and effect examples. If students give an example that
again confuses cause and effect, I will work back through the scenario out loud with them to help
them determine a more correct response.

Students could also be quiet and not have any examples. If that is the case, I will say, Okay,
how about if I said that on Monday morning I was feeling sick so I went to the doctors office.
What would be the effect in that example? Students would hopefully say that going to the
doctors office would be the effect. If they say that the effect is me being sick, I will remind them
that effect means WHAT happened.

The effect would be that I went to the doctors office because thats what happened. What
would be the cause be in that example? Students would hopefully say that me being sick would
be the cause. If they say that me going to the doctors office is the cause, I will remind them that
cause means WHY something happened.

The cause would be because I was feeling sick. Do we all feel comfortable with the definitions
of cause and effect? If students say yes, I will move onto reading the book. If the students say
no, I will do another scenario with them.

Implementation of the lesson (specific procedures and directions for teacher and students):
Now that we have gone over the meanings of cause and effect, Im going to read If you Give a
Mouse a Cookie to you all. Together, we are going to point out any cause and effect situations
we see. I will then begin reading the book.

The first cause and effect situation in the book is, if you give a mouse a cookie then he will want
a glass of milk. Does anyone see cause and effect here? The students will hopefully be able to
identify that the cause is the mouse was given a cookie, and the effect is that he wanted a glass of
 milk to go with it. If the students get them confused, I will again remind me that cause means
WHY and effect means WHAT. Once the students get the correct answer, I will continue to read.

The mouse looked in the mirror and noticed his hair needed a trim, so he asked for a pair of
scissors. What could be the cause and effect here? The students should say that the cause is the
mouse noticing his hair needed a trim, and the effect is that he asked for a pair of scissors.

The mouse wants the young boy to read him a story. What was the cause here? What is the
effect? Students should say that the cause is the mouse is about to take a nap and the effect is
that the mouse wanted a bedtime story. I will continue to read and finish the book.

Werent there a ton of examples of cause and effect in this book? I illustrated some here for you
all. The first two pictures I have is the mouse eating a cookie, and the second picture is him
asking for a glass of milk. Does anyone remember which one is the cause and which one is the
effect from the story? The students will hopefully be able to identify that the cause is the mouse
was given a cookie, and the effect is that the mouse wanted a glass of milk to go with his cookie.
If the students get them confused, I will again remind me that cause means WHY and effect
means WHAT. Exactly, so the mouse wanted a glass of milk because he was given a cookie. He
wants the glass of milk because sometimes cookies can make you thirsty, and cookies and milk
go great together.

Next I drew a picture of the mouse looking at his hair in the mirror and noticing he needed a
trim, and the second picture is the mouse asking for a pair of scissors. Can anyone tell me the
cause and effect here? The students should say that the cause is the mouse noticing his hair needs
a trim, and the effect is the mouse asking for a pair of scissors.

Lastly, I drew a picture of the mouse tucked into bed and asking for a bedtime story. What is the
cause and effect here? Students should say that the cause is the mouse was going to take a nap
and the effect is that he asked for a bedtime story to help him sleep.

Closure:
Now that we have covered a couple of the examples of cause and effect in the book, I want you
all to practice drawing your own. Each of you is going to get three sheets of paper with two
boxes on each page. For each page, I want you to draw a cause and then an effect that goes along
with your cause. Youre going to cut out each box, and write the cause and effect on the back.
After everyone has finished, we are going to share them with each other. Once I give you your
papers, you may begin. If students have trouble coming up with cause and effect situations on
their own, I will have a list of examples to give to them. Students will share out loud their cause
and effect drawings.

I love the cause and effect situations you all came up with. They were very creative. I have an
online quiz for you all to take on this neat website called quizziz. We are going to take turns
taking the quiz on the computers and then you all are all done. Thank you so much for letting me
teach you about cause and effect today. Quiz questions will be listed below.

H. DIFFERENTIATION
Since we will all be sitting for the entirety of the lesson, I do not foresee that physical disabilities will
be an issue. Since I will be teaching in a small group, I will be available for students who are
struggling and need one on one work with cause and effect. If students seem to be excelling at this
topic and need less work, I can have them take the quiz right after they finish their drawings and have
them return when they are done. Differentiation is also described in section I.
I. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT?
One thing that could go wrong with this lesson is that there is not enough time to complete everything.
If that is the case, I will have the students only draw two examples of cause and effect instead of three.
Or, I can decide not complete the online quiz. In which case, I will have them review cause and effect
out loud with me to test for reading comprehension. Another issue I could face is that the lesson is too
easy for the students. If that is the case, I will spend less time describing cause and effect. I will also
have them get into pairs and swap their cause and effect drawings and have them try to match them on
their own. They will then share their partners cause and effect drawings instead of their own.
 Cause and Effect Scenarios
On Monday morning, you over slept. Illustrate three
causes and effects from this situation.
You did extra chores around the house over the
weekend. Illustrate three causes and effects from
this situation.
Wednesday morning, you decided to wear boots and
a heavy jacket. Illustrate three causes and effects
from this situation.
Friday morning you went to the doctors office.
Illustrate three causes and effects from this
situation.

Quizizz Questions:

Q1. What is the definition of cause?

Cause is the reason WHY something happened.(correct answer)
Cause is WHAT happened as a result of the effect.
Cause is something you use when it rains outside.
Cause is an example of a character in a story.

Q2. What is the definition of effect?

An effect is the reason WHY something happened.
An effect is a type of mouse.
An effect is where something takes place in a story.
An effect is WHAT happened as a result of the cause. (correct answer)

Q3. The young boy in the story we read gave the mouse a cookie. The mouse then asked for a glass of milk.
What is the cause and what is the effect?
There is no cause and effect.
The cause is the little boy and the effect is the mouse.
I don't remember.
The cause is that the mouse had a cookie and the effect is that the mouse wanted a glass of milk to go with it.
(correct answer)

Q4. What did the mouse want to do with the picture he drew?
He wanted to throw it out.
He wanted to give it to his mouse friend.
He wanted to hang it on the fridge. (correct answer)
He didn't draw a picture in the story.

Q5. Why did the mouse ask for a straw in the story?
He wanted to use the straw to drink his milk. (correct answer)
He wanted the straw to drink his juice.
He wanted the straw so he could play with it.
The mouse did not ask for a straw in the story.

Lesson Implementation Reflection

 I. How did your actual teaching of the lesson differ from your plans? Describe the changes and explain
why you made them.

My actual teaching and my lesson plan were almost exactly the same. The lesson ended up taking all
45 minutes with the way I had originally planned it, so I did not have the students work in groups or explain
their cause and effect illustrations with a friend before they shared with a group. I had planned out places to
stop during the read aloud in order to emphasis the cause and effect relationship ahead of time. I stopped
during all of those parts, but there were many cause and effect situations in the book that I did not bring up but
that the students did. Because of that, I allowed for more pauses and reflection on cause and effect during the
read aloud than I had original planned. Also, two of the students in my small group were pulled out of class to
go to another special class. They did not get to do the online quiz portion of the assignment. Obviously I would
have preferred that they be there for that, but I was able to assess their knowledge and acquirement of the
learning objectives through the other portions of the lesson.

II. Based on the assessment you created, what can you conclude about your impact on student
learning? Did they learn? Who learned? What did they learn? What evidence can you offer that
your conclusions are valid?

From looking at my assessment, I think that each of the students I taught learned a great deal about
cause and effect. At the beginning of the lesson, some of the students were confusing the two terms with each
other, which is an understandable error. During the read aloud, students would switch cause and effect. By the
time they were drawing their own examples of cause and effect and explaining them to the group, they had a
much better understanding of case and effect than they did before. The online quiz consisted on five questions,
and only two students did not get a perfect score. The two students that did not receive a perfect score online
missed one question. Doing the online quiz allowed me to see students progress and answers online on my
own computer. I was able to immediately pull up their score and see exactly how they did. My assessment
shows that the students I taught pretty much achieved all of the learning objectives as planned.

III. Describe at least one way you could incorporate developmentally appropriate practice in a better or
more thorough way if you were to teach this lesson again.

Some of the students were reluctant about having to draw their own cause and effect scenarios. They
did not seem excited about getting to make their own artwork. The students only get to go to art class about
once a month, so I just assumed they would be excited about doing this. I feel like it would have been more
developmentally appropriate if I had made that section of the lesson more entertaining to the different types of
learners. I could have had some other way for students to demonstrate cause and effect relationships without
having to draw them if they didnt want to. If I were to go back and teach this lesson again, I am sure there is
some other form of technology or an app I could use to help the students achieve this. I also wish I had made
the quiz a little longer. These were 4th grade students, so I think I could have made it a little more challenging
for them, which would have been more developmentally appropriate.

IV. Based on the assessment data you collected, what would you do/teach next if you were the classroom
teacher?

Based on the results I received from this assessment, If I were the teacher then I would definitely
move onto more difficult tasks in reading, such as making inferences or drawing conclusions. These students
seemed to struggle with cause and effect at first, but by the end they were totally comfortable with the topic. I
think they are ready to move on to the next level. That being said, I think I would still stick with a childrens
book to introduce new readings skills and topics. Though this is 4th grade and the students are able to read
chapter books on their own, they got really excited when they found out I was reading If you Give a Mouse a
Cookie. Childrens books use literary devices and cover important 4 th grade reading SOLs, and I think they
are a good way to introduce new reading topics. I would also keep the technology aspect in the lesson. The
students were so excited to work on the iPads and they got so interested in the online quiz. Depending on the
reading topic being taught at the time, storybird or kahoot could be a good use of technology here.
 V. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about
young children as learners?

I learned that young children have a lot to say, and they need to be given a chance to say it. I kept the
students on task during the beginning discussion and the read aloud, but I allowed them to talk with each other
about different topics while they illustrated their own cause and effect scenarios. I feel that often times their
original teacher does not allow them to communicate with each other about their daily lives, and she does not
give them much room to bring in their outside knowledge and experience into the classroom. Having them
illustrate their own cause and effect scenarios allowed the students to pull their outside interests into the
classroom. A lot of them drew about their lives or their interests. I feel as if I got to know the students well
during this lesson. I also learned that students love technology. If I had not had the online quiz as part of my
lesson, I definitely dont think it would have gone as well as it did. The students eyes lit up when I brought
out the iPads. Even though they were essentially just taking a quiz online, they were dancing during it and
getting all excited. Even other would walk past and stop to watch us. I know that we have learned about the
importance of technology in the classroom before, but actually getting to see it in action has really changed me
as a future teacher.

VI. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about
teaching?

As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, I learned that it is important for teachers to carefully
plan their lessons. For the word study lesson, I did not give enough time to work on my lesson or really think it
out. As a result, my lesson did not go over as well as I would have liked. For this lesson, I took a lot of time
and effort into planning it. I think thats what made this lesson so successful. As a teacher, it is important to
spend a good amount of time lesson planning to ensure that you are prepared to teach a certain topic. I also
learned that differentiation is an important part of the lesson for the teacher. For my word study lesson, I was
not prepared for the wide range of abilities they students had in one small group. This time, I made sure to plan
my lesson so that it was easy to make it more challenging or easier based on the students ability. That came in
handy when I had both a student who needed extra guidance and a student who finished their work early.
Teachers must have a plan to differentiate their lessons based on their students interests and abilities.

VII. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about
yourself?

As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, I learned that I am capable of teaching upper
elementary school students. After my word study lesson plan didnt go great, I got down on myself and
doubted my teaching abilities. This lesson showed me that with the right tools and the right attitude, I can
reach out and help fourth grade students. I also learned that I can integrate technology into the classroom in an
appropriate and learning oriented way. I have never considered myself to be technology savvy. The thought of
using technology in the classroom definitely worries me. I am always concerned about whether it is actually
helping the students learn or not. This lesson showed me that using technology in the classroom can be a
wonderful experience for both the students and the teacher. The students were literally begging me to create
another quizziz for them after they completed theirs. This lesson makes me want to fit technology, in some
way, into all of my other lesson plans this semester.