The Wish Giver: Cause and effect

Through a discussion of the characters in the novel The Wish Giver, by Bill Brittain, the teacher will teach the students to identify and analyze the cause/effect relationship and its importance in reading comprehension.

A lesson plan for grades 4–5 English Language Arts

By Becky Ellzey

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Related topics

• Learn more about cause and effect, graphic organizers, journaling, language arts, literature, modeling, novels, read-alouds, and reading.

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• be able to discuss implied motives of characters as evidenced in the text.
• recognize evidence presented in the text that supports a recommendation or opinion, and use this information to support their recommendation or opinion.
• reflect about reading by writing in a journal.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

3 weeks

Materials/resources

• The Wish Giver by Bill Brittain
• Pencils and Paper
• Paper Bags
• Crayons and Markers
• The Kid in the Red Jacket by Barbara Park
• Reading Journal

Pre-activities

• The students will complete the following experiment to help them review the concepts of cause and effect. Place some old pennies in vinegar and let them sit for at least 30 minutes. When the time is up, have students wipe off pennies with a clean paper towel. Observe the changes that occurred. Use a graphic organizer to show what the vinegar did to the pennies. Discuss the cause or why the pennies changed and the effect (or what was changed about the pennies).
• The teacher will model how to identify cause and effect by displaying a short passage on the overhead and asking: What happened and why it happened?
• Use the following passage from The Kid in the Red Jacket by Barbara Park:
  

  Anyway, when Ollie was standing there with that orange in his mouth, even Pete cracked up. You could tell by the expression on his face that he thought Ollie was acting like an idiot, but he still thought it was funny.

• The teacher will explain that sometimes a cause may have more than one effect, and an effect may have more than one cause. The teacher will identify clue words and phrases: because, since, therefore, and as a result to signal a cause. The teacher will remind students that causes and effects may be stated or implied.

Activities

1. The teacher will read aloud Part 1 of The Wish Giver as an introduction to the book.
2. The teacher will read aloud Part 2. Then, the teacher will model using a cause-effect graphic organizer to answer the following questions to help the students identify the cause and the effect.
   • What happened in this part of the novel?
   • Why did it happen?
   • What caused the main character to act as he or she did?
   • What effect did these actions have on others?
3. The teacher will then model using the graphic organizer to write a paragraph telling about what happened to Polly and why it happened. Teacher will model using the cause/effect transition words above in the paragraph.
4. In small groups, students will read Part 3 and use the cause/effect graphic organizer to answer the questions used for #2.
5. The students will then write a paragraph in their journals telling about what happened to Rowena and why it happened. Students will then check for correct use of cause/effect transition words.
6. In small groups, students will read Part 4 and repeat the procedure used for Part 3.
7. The students will now write in their journal about Adam telling what happened to him and why it happened.
8. The students will read Part 5 and again repeat the questions used for Part 2.
9. The students will write in their journals telling about Stew Meat and his influence on all of the other characters in the novel.
10. Students will select the character from the novel that they think had the greatest influence, positive or negative, on the other characters, and write a letter explaining why they think this character had such an effect on the other characters.

Assessment

• Through class discussions the teacher will receive feedback on whether or not students are understanding implied motives of characters and using references from the text to support their ideas.
• Regarding each character’s implied motives and the cause and effect relationship, the students will reflect in their journals after each part of the novel. The teacher will read the journals to assess the students’ understanding.
• Through the use of a graphic organizer students will show what happened, the cause and effect relationship, to one of the main characters as evidenced in the text and use this information to support a comic strip designed and written by them.
• Selecting another character the students will make a paper bag puppet and write a dialogue regarding what happened to him/ her and why it happened by referencing the text.

Supplemental information

Students could play the game, Cause and Effect by Learning Well, to review and reinforce the skills taught.

Comments

My fifth grade students really enjoy this book, and I have found it to be a very appropriate novel for teaching cause and effect.