Cause & Effect in Informational Texts

Cause & Effect in Informational Texts

By Dawn McCoy

STUDENT OBJECTIVE:

Identify and interpret cause-and-effect relationships in informational texts

CAUSE

something that brings about an effect

EFFECT

A result or consequence of an action or cause

CAUSE AND EFFECT

• The cause and effect can be WRITTEN in any order but....

• The CAUSE of something is always what HAPPENS first

• The EFFECT is the resulting outcome (or what HAPPENS second)

• An author uses cause and effect as an element of story writing.

• Cause-and-effect relationships are used to deepen a readers understanding.

Cause and Effect Sentence

• A. The students stayed in and played board games during recess.

• B. It was raining outside during recess time.

Multiple Choice

A. The students stayed in and played board games during recess.

B. It was raining outside during recess time.

Which happened first and which happened second. A then B or B then A?

• A then B

• B then A

• B. happened first and was the CAUSE of the students staying

  inside and playing board games during recess

• sentence A. is the EFFECT of sentence B.

Cause and effect relationships occur everyday: at play, at home, and at school. To find cause and effect relationships, we look for one event that caused another event. The CAUSE is why the event happens. The EFFECT is what happened.

EFFECT is what happened.

CAUSE  is why something happened.​

Clue WORDS that WILL SIGNAL cause/effect relationships include:​

such as

because

so

consequently

therefore

thus

since

Multiple Choice

Read the CAUSE below. Choose it's correct EFFECT.

It snowed last night so,,,,,

• we were forced to wear boots outside.

• I was hungry all morning.

• we were late for school.

• my tummy ached.

Multiple Choice

Read the EFFECT below. Choose it's correct CAUSE.

my tummy ached.

• It snowed outside, so

• I did not eat breakfast, so

• Our car did not start, so

• I ate to much cake, so

Poll

I'd like more support understanding ......

• cause

• effect

• both

Open Ended

Using your own words, describe what a cause and effect relationship is.

Multiple Select

Magma is also known as...?

HINT: There is more than one correct answer.

• rock

• lava

• hot liquid rock

• ashes

Multiple Choice

According to the paragraph, what causes the magma to push to the surface?

• Heat and pressure build up underground.

• Lava erupts out of a volcano.

• Magma erupts out of the volcano.

Multiple Choice

According to the paragraph, what is the effect (result) of pressure pushing magma to the surface?

• Heat and pressure build up underground.

• Magma erupts out of the volcano.

• A mountain forms.