Reading Focus Calendar Cluster 3 Cause & Effect Grades 3, 4, & 5 Week 17-18

1. Reading Focus Calendar Cluster 3Cause & EffectGrades 3, 4, & 5Week 17-18 “A life without cause is a life without effect.” -Barbarella

2. Cause & EffectTable of Contents • Understanding the FCAT Benchmark • Key concepts & how to identify • What it looks like on the FCAT test • Resources

3. Understanding the FCAT BenchmarkCluster 3Comparisons and Cause/Effect Benchmark LA.E.2.2.1 Recognizes cause-and-effect relationships in a variety of texts including fiction, nonfiction, informational text, poetry, and drama. Tip: Recognizing cause-and-effect relationships helps students see how ideas fit together and leads to greater comprehension.

4. Key Concepts • Cause • An event or an action that makes something else happen • Effect • A result; it is what happens because of, or as the result of, another event or action • Cause-and-effect relationships • Interdependent – one can not happen without the other • Ask questions • “What happened first?” “Why did this happen?”; questions like these help you to figure out what caused an event to take place.

5. How to identify cause and effect in a text • Look for signal words or phrases to help find causes: because cause if  before and signal words or phrases to help find effects: So  then  consequently  this led to  therefore As a result of

6. Questions to ask yourself… • to find the effect, or result, ask, • “What happened?” • to identify the cause, ask, “ Why • did it happen?”

7. What Does It Look Like on FCAT in Grade Three? Type of Text: Literary or informational Type of Questions: Multiple Choice Response Attributes: Distractors may include, but are not limited to, the following: • incorrect causes or effects • plausible but incorrect responses based on the text

8. Multiple Choice Sample This item is based on Passage A, Grade 3. See Appendix C. Why do Chilly Bones and Bloocher start jumping, rolling, and wrestling with each other? • A. They want people to notice them. • B. They want to get rid of each other. • *C. They are happy to meet each other. • D. They have known each other before. Tip: Students must be able to look at text as a whole to answer these questions.

9. What Does It Look Like on FCAT in Grade Four? Type of Text: Literary or informational Type of Questions: • Multiple Choice (MC) • Short-response (SR)

10. Response Attributes: Multiple Choice Distractors may include, but are not limited to, the following: • incorrect causes or effects • plausible but incorrect responses based on the text Short Response An example of a top-score response for the specific item will be included.

11. Multiple Choice Sample These items are based on Passage D, Grade 4. What happened to make Tommy feel weightless? • A. Tommy had trouble breathing. • B. The spacecraft made a roaring sound. • *C. The spacecraft went into a steady orbit. • D. Tommy squirmed against the seat straps. Tip: Students must be able to look at text as a whole to answer these questions.

12. Short Response Question* READ THINK EXPLAIN • What result of the first Mount Mazama explosion was most important to the formation of Crater Lake? Use details and information from the article to support your answer. *Tip: It is estimated that students will take five minutes to answer this type of item.

13. Sample Short Response Answer READ THINK EXPLAIN Top-Score Response • The mountain falling in on itself and creating a huge hole/caldera/bowl was the most important result of the explosion. It was that bowl that later collected the rain and snow that formed Crater Lake. A top-score response cites BOTH the most important result of the Mount Mazama explosion AND a correct explanation of its importance, using information stated or implied in the text.

14. What Does It Look Like on FCAT in Grade Five? Type of Text: Literary or informational Type of Questions: Multiple Choice Response Attributes: Distractors may include, but are not limited to, the following: • incorrect causes or effects • plausible but incorrect responses based on the text

15. Multiple Choice Sample This item is based on Passage F, Grade 5. What is the MAIN purpose of the jobs Kari and Kal do when they are in the hot-air balloon? • *A. to avoid possible dangers • B. to help control the balloon • C. to be ready for a rip landing • D. to help decide where to land Tip: Students must be able to look at text as a whole to answer these questions.

16. What can teachers do? • Teach signal words that show cause/effect relationships • Teach how to look for the different kinds of cause/effect relationships: • Stated cause/effect relationships: the relationship is stated clearly • Unstated cause/effect relationships: students must be taught how to "read between the lines" • Reciprocal cause/effect relationships: effects may be part of a chain. In this kind of structure, one effect goes on to cause a second effect, which may then cause a third effect, etc. • Ask questions • Encourage students to read

17. Links to Resources • Sample Non-fiction Cause & Effect Lesson Plan • http://www.everestquest.com/read2.htm • Interactive practice on determining the cause and effect with short examples. • http://unx1.shsu.edu/~txcae/Powerpoints/prepostest/ • Some excellent graphic organizers for cause & effect. • http://www.educationoasis.com/curriculum/GO/cause_effect.htm • Resource materials for Cause and Effect • http://www.internet4classrooms.com/TCAP.htm#cause • Visit the Lit Tips. Look at #27 Text Reformulation • http://www.collier.k12.fl.us/candi/langarts/literacytips.htm