Classroom Resource

Exploring Cause and Effect Using Expository Texts About Natural Disasters

Subject Area

English Language Arts

Grade(s)

3, 4, 5

Overview

Expository texts are a key component of literacy but often do not get introduced to students until the later grades. This lesson helps third- through fifth-grade students explore the nature and structure of expository texts that focus on cause and effect. Students begin by activating prior knowledge about cause and effect; the teacher then models discovering these relationships in a text and recording in a graphic organizer what the relationships that the class finds. Students work in small groups to apply what they learned using related books and then write paragraphs outlining the cause-and-effect relationships they have found.

English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): 3

ELA21.3.24

Identify the text structures within literary and informational texts.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.3.24

Vocabulary

  • Identify
  • Text structures
  • Literary text
  • Informational text

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Literary and informational texts follow predictable structures.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Identify the text structure of literary texts.
  • Identify the text structure of informational texts.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Identifying the text structure of literary and informational texts will set a purpose for their reading and improve their comprehension.
English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): 3

ELA21.3.38

Compose and develop a well-organized paragraph with a topic sentence, details to support, and a concluding sentence.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.3.38

Vocabulary

  • Compose
  • Develop
  • Well-organized paragraph
  • Topic sentence
  • Details
  • Concluding sentence

Knowledge

Students know:
  • A well-organized paragraph has a topic sentence, supporting details, and a concluding sentence.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Write a well-organized paragraph that consists of a topic sentence, supporting details, and a concluding sentence.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • A well-written paragraph includes a topic sentence to introduce the topic, provides supporting details to explain the topic, and ends with a concluding sentence.
English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): 4

ELA21.4.23

Evaluate how text features and structures contribute to the meaning of an informational text.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.4.23

Vocabulary

  • Text features
  • Text structures
  • Informational texts

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Informational text often includes text features, such as graphs, charts, diagrams, photographs, etc., to help readers better understand the information in the text.
  • Informational text often follows a predictable text structure.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Identify and describe how text features contribute to the meaning of informational text.
  • Identify and describe how text structure contributes to the meaning of informational text.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Text features are often included in informational text to help readers better understand the author's intended meaning and message.
  • Informational texts often follow a predictable text structure, and identifying the structure of a text can improve comprehension.
English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): 4

ELA21.4.32

Respond in writing to literature and informational text, including stories, dramas, poetry, and cross-curricular texts, both independently and with support, demonstrating grade-level proficiency.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.4.32

Vocabulary

  • Respond
  • Writing
  • Literature
  • Informational texts
  • Stories
  • Dramas
  • Poetry
  • Cross-curricular texts
  • Independently
  • With support
  • Grade-level proficiency

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Responding to text in a written format demonstrates comprehension of the text.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Independently and with support, create grade-appropriate written responses after reading literature and informational text.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • To respond in writing to literature and informational texts, they must read critically, have a deep understanding of the text's content, and use appropriate writing skills.
English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): 5

ELA21.5.24

Determine and evaluate the effectiveness of digital and print text features and structures, including comparison and contrast, problem and solution, and cause and effect.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.5.24

Vocabulary

  • Determine
  • Evaluate
  • Effectiveness
  • Digital text features
  • Print text features
  • Text structures
  • Comparison and contrast
  • Problem and solution
  • Cause and effect

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Text features are items like charts, graphs, diagrams, time lines, animations, or interactive elements on Web pages.
  • Text features can provide additional information or enhance understanding of the text.
  • Text can be structured in different ways, depending on the type of information that is being communicated.
  • A text that follows a comparison and contrast structure will describe how two or more things are alike or different.
  • Problem and solution text structure describes a problem and how the problem was solved or could be solved.
  • Cause and effect text structure describes an event (the cause) and the consequence or result of the event (the effect).

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Identify digital and print text features and structures.
  • Evaluate the effectiveness of digital and print text features and structures in communicating the intended meaning.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Text features can be found in printed and digital text materials.
  • Text features often provide important information about details in the text or can enhance understanding of details in the text.
  • Texts follow a predictable structure that contributes to the overall meaning of the text.
  • They can demonstrate comprehension of the text by evaluating on the purpose and effectiveness of the text features and structure the author chose to use.
English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): 5

ELA21.5.32

Respond in writing to literature and informational text, including stories, dramas, poetry, and cross-curricular texts, independently and with grade-level proficiency.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.5.32

Vocabulary

  • Literature
  • Informational text
  • Stories
  • Dramas
  • Poetry
  • Cross-curricular texts
  • Independently
  • Proficiency

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Responding to text in a written format demonstrates comprehension of the text.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Independently create grade-appropriate written responses after reading literature and informational text.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • To respond in writing to literature and informational texts, they must read critically, have a deep understanding of the text's content, and use appropriate writing skills.
Link to Resource
http://readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/exploring-cause-effe…

CR Resource Type

Lesson/Unit Plan

Resource Provider

ReadWriteThink
Accessibility
License

License Type

Custom

Custom License Type (URL)

http://www.readwritethink.org/util/legal.html

Approved Date

raulstoncg
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