Elementary Education edTPA Lesson Plan Template

Lesson Plan Directions: Respond to the prompts below by typing your responses within the brackets
following each prompt. Do not delete or alter the prompts.
This is my Lesson# 1 2 3 (Highlight One)

Title of Lesson Plan: [Finding cause and effect in texts]

Grade Level: [3rd ]

Subject/Content Area(s): [English Language Arts]

Students: [This lesson will be taught to a 3rd grade class in a whole group environment during the English
Language Arts instruction block. One hour will be allotted for this lesson. In total, there are 20 students in the
classroom: 12 boys and 8 girls. There are three ELL students, but they do not have trouble speaking and
completing work in English. There is also 1 student on a 504 plan.

Ethnicity Number and Percentage of Ethnicity Number and Percentage of

Students in Group Students in Group
African American 9 or 45% Hispanic 4 or 20%
Caucasian 6 or 30% Multicultural 1 or 5%
Asian 0 Other 0

Academic Breakdown Number and Percentage of Students in Group

Academically or Intellectually Gifted (AIG) 3 or 15%
Exceptional Children (EC) 0
English Language Learners (ELL) 3 or 15%

NCSCOS Goal(s): [Key ideas and details]

NCSCOS Standards(s): [CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.3 Describe the relationship between a series of historical

events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to
time, sequence, and cause/effect.]

Content: [Students will learn about cause and effect relationship and how to identify each in various examples.
Cause and effect relationships happen when one thing causes another. A cause is the first thing that happens,
and the effect is what happens because or after the cause. They will learn that a cause is what makes the
effect happen and the effect occurs due to the cause. When reading various types of texts such, technical,
scientific and/or historical texts, it is important to think about the various cause and effect relationships stated in
each. When we think about why something happens and what happens as a result of the event, this helps us
to better understand the information. It will be shared with students that for this reason, it is important to
understand cause and effect relationships while they are reading. We will review the questions that they should
ask themselves to identify cause and effect relationships. The first question is What happened first? what
happened first is always the cause. The second question is what happened second?, what happens second is
always the effect because the effect must come after the cause. The third question is what made each event
happen?, which is the cause because the cause makes each event happens and is what leads to the effect.
The last question is what came after the cause?, what comes after the cause is the effect because the effect
occurs due to the cause. The next question is, what is the cause/effect, using the previous questions,
students should be able to use their answers to identify the cause and effect relationship. The last question is
how do you know? this question allows students to think past the simple definition and justify their answers
Elementary Education edTPA Lesson Plan Template

with reasoning and logic. Students will be reminded about the signal words that aids readers in the
identification of cause and effect relationships which are: because, due to, then, if, since, the reason why,
therefore, so and as a result of.

Lesson Objective: [After the lesson, students will successfully read a scientific text and answer the questions
that follow with 80% accuracy]

Academic Language:
Vocabulary or key phrases associated with content [Cause: The reason why something happens,
Effect: What happens as a result of the cause, First: coming before all others in time or order, Second:
coming after the first in time or order, Relationship: the way in which two or more concepts, objects, or
people are connected, Signal words: certain words and phrases that an author may use to connect
their ideas, show a logical relationship between ideas, and guide the reader in the direction that the
writer wants them to go, Identify: to establish or indicate who or what, Analyze: To look through with
detail, Informational text: descriptive articles that provide readers with important details, including the
who, what, when, where, and why aspects.]
Language functions [identify, analyze, determine, define]
Syntax [sentences, anchor chart]
Discourse [class discussions]

Differentiation:
Content [During the teacher input, simplified directions and definitions for vocabulary will be given to my
students that are below grade level.]
Process [During the independent practice my struggling readers will on have to provide an explanation
to only one of the cause and effect examples they choose. The anchor chart with the 4 essential
questions and the signal words will be kept at the front of the class, so that my visual learners may use
it as a reference. Directions will be read aloud and explained in thorough detail. Extended time will be
provided for my struggling readers.]
Product [During the independent practice, my struggling will have the option to use bullet points instead
of sentences for the open-ended questions.]
Learning Environment [ During the guided and independent practice, the clinical teacher and I will both
be available during this time to help students who are in need. Students will be given time to work in
collaborative pairs on certain assignments. During independent practice, students who finish early will
be allowed go around to the rest of the class to help other students and provide an easier explanation.]

List of Materials: [SMARTBoard, anchor chart, markers, guided practice and independent practice passages,

Visuals Used: [SMARTBoard, anchor chart, passages for guided and independent practice]

Classroom Management:
Group Alerting Strategy [To alert the students I will put one finger in the air which they have been taught
to clap once to. When I put 2 fingers up they clap twice and three for the finger they clap three times. If
students are getting off task and/or the noise level begins to increase I will alert them by whispering if
you hear my voice, clap once. Usually, at least one student hears me and complies which in turns
catches the attention of other students. As more students join in, I will progressively increase my voice,
while increasing the number of claps until every student is clapping.]
Motivation Strategy [At the end of each week, class dojo points are given to students who have
remained on task and completed all their assignments. There is also a colored clip chart, when
students are behaving well, they remain on green and when they are exceptional, they move up a color.
Elementary Education edTPA Lesson Plan Template

I will verbally praise individual students often and/or the whole the class when I see that they are
exhibiting model behavior.]
Preventive Behavior Management Strategy [To prevent unwanted behavior, students are strategically
assigned seats away from anyone that would cause them to be distracted from instruction time.]

Assessment Strategy: [Formative assessment will be used throughout the lesson as I use questioning to
check for students understanding of the content also by asking students to give me two thumbs up if they
understand the material. At the end of the lesson summative assessment will be used through the independent
practice where students will have to read a passage to identify the signal words, cause and effect and answer
two open-ended questions.]

Procedures:

1. Focus and Review: [I will begin by asking students if they can describe what a cause and effect is
and if they remember which one comes first/second. Afterwards, they will be reminded that a cause
is the first thing that happens, and the effect is what happens because or after the cause. Next, we
will play a game called What comes next?. Prior to beginning the game, the instructions will be
shared. Students will be told that they will be playing a game of What comes next? and in this
game, we will go around the room stating a cause and the next person will state an effect and the
next person will have to state another cause and the game will keep going until everyone has a
chance to go. Next, students will be asked to stand in a circle around the room. I will join in on the
game and model how the game is supposed to be played by beginning with a cause. The student
next to me will be required to state an effect to my cause; the next student will then state a cause
and the student next to them will have to state an effect of their cause. Students will then be asked
if they have any questions. After questions, the game will start back again with me and when each
student has gotten to state a cause or an effect students will be asked to return back to their seats
to begin the lesson.]

2. Statement of Objective: [After the lesson, students will successfully read a scientific text and
answer the questions that follow with 80% accuracy]

3. Teacher Input: [I will begin by explaining to students that when reading informational texts, it is
important to think about the cause and effect relationships stated in the text. When we think about
why something happens and what happens as a result of the event, this helps us to better
understand the information. It will be shared with students that for this reason, it is important to
understand cause and effect relationships while they are reading. We will first refer back to the
anchor chart that was made in the first lesson with the questions they should ask themselves when
trying to understand cause and effect relationships. I will provide the students with a few examples
and use the questions from the anchor chart to help determine the cause and effect. The examples
given will be, Hannah did not read the recipe carefully so her cookies did not come out like they
were supposed to, The kids started dancing when they heard theyre favorite song, Sammy
stayed up past his bedtime, so he was tired when he had to wake up in the morning. Students will
be told that examples will be given to help them use the questions to understand the cause and
effect of each sentence. After the sentence has been read, volunteers will be given the opportunity
to answer each question. After students have been asked the questions What happened first? ,
What happened second?, What made each event happen? this is the cause , What came after
the cause? this is the effect? What is the cause/effect? How do you know? We will move on to the
next example. After we have gone over the questions, students will be reminded that there are
signal words that can also help determine a cause and effect relationship, we will then refer to the
anchor chart created in lesson 2 to review the signal words for cause and effect (if, so, because,
when, therefore, as a result, the reason why). We will then look back at the three example
sentences that we used to go over the questions. Each sentence will be read aloud again and
Elementary Education edTPA Lesson Plan Template

students will be asked to identify the signal words in each sentence. Afterwards it will be explained
to students that when finding cause and effect relationships in text they can analyze the sentence
by asking their selves the 6 question and identifying any signal words. Next, Bats and Their
Amazing Ears will be read to the students and be used to model how to identify cause and effect
relationships through signal words and questioning in Bats and Their Amazing Ears. The passage
is about bats and how they use their ears to navigate and find food. The passage contains 3
paragraphs with one cause and effect sentence in each. I will model how to find the cause and
effect in each sentence by first locating the signal word and then using questioning to determine
whether the sentence has a cause and effect relationship.]

4. Guided Practice: [After reviewing cause and effect and modeling to students how to find the cause
and effect relationship in the passage, students will be given a passage of their own to read, titled A
Better Running Shoe, which is about how the invention of space boots influenced todays modern
running shoes. Students will be instructed to work in collaborative pairs to analyze the passage and
find the 3 cause and effect sentences in it. They will also be instructed to circle the signal words that
helped the identify the cause and effect relationship.]

5. Independent Practice: [For this portion students will be given passage titled Cloudy with a chance
of Cats and Dogs. They will be instructed to independently read and analyze the passage to
identify any signal words and cause and effect relationships. Under the passage there is space
provided for students to write down the signal words in the passage as well as at least 2 examples
of cause and effect they found in the passage followed by a brief explanation. This will all be
followed by to very short open-ended questions.]

Closure: [After students have completed their independent practice, the class will review the
information we talked about today and review information from previous lessons. Students will be
asked the following questions: What is a cause? What is an effect? What happens first? What
comes second? Students will be reminded that when finding cause and effect relationships, there
are various signal words that are used. Students will be reminded that when reading informational
texts, it is important to think about the cause and effect relationships stated in the text. When we
think about why something happens and what happens as a result of the event, this helps us to
better understand the information. Students will be asked if they can identify the cause and effect
signal words we discussed throughout the lesson (because, due to, then, if, since, the reason why,
therefore, so and as a result of). After students have shared the signal words, they will be reminded
that these words can be used to help them more easily identify a cause and effect relationship.
Students will then be asked if they can recall the questions the essential questions. It will then be
reiterated that it is very important to be able to identify cause and effect relationships in texts
because it helps us understand the text better.]