Christine A. Elmore
Objective:
To learn about the relationship between cause and effect by recording and retelling the events in sequence of the book,
If You Give A Mouse A Cookie
by Laura Numeroff.
Materials:
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
, chart paper, large black marker, red, black and blue dry erase markers, cause and effect graphic organizer, pencils, pocket chart, picture cards.
Procedure:
1) The teacher asks students the question: How many of you have heard your parents say to you, "If you finish your homework, then you can go play outside." "If you clean your room, then we can go shopping at the mall." Record these two sentences on the whiteboard and underline the first part in red and explain that this part tells about something that might happen. Label it cause. Then underline the second part of the sentence in blue and explain that this part tells what might happen because the first part happened. Label it effect.
2) Have students complete the following sentences orally: If you study hard for your test, you will____________________. If you water a seed that you planted every day, it will ____________________. Have individuals identify the cause and the effect.
3) Introduce the book,
If You Give a Mouse A Cookie
, by reading the first line, "If you give a mouse a cookie, __________ and ask students to complete it with their own ideas, making predictions about the story.
4) Read the entire book to the class. Then, pass out copies of a 16-boxed graphic organizer (where one box follows another from left to right and each box is followed by an arrow pointing forward) and together have students recall the things the mouse wanted (cookie, milk, straw, napkin, mirror, scissors, broom, mop, bucket, little box, pillow, story, paper, crayons, pen, tape). Display picture cards of the items on a pocket chart and ask individual students to come up to put them in order from left to right.
5) Referring to the pocket chart, record the names of each object, one by one, in order on your large chart paper version of the graphic organizer from which the students will copy onto theirs. Discuss the impact of each event and what led to the next.