Cause and Effect in Kenya's Long Dry Season

Kenya's Long Dry Season - Cause and Effect

Activity Overview

In this activity, students will identify cause and effect relationships by answering the some of the following or similar questions:

What effects did thedrought cause?

What happened because there was a drought?

What did people do because there was a drought?

What changes happened?

Students will create a grid storyboard to organize their thoughts on the numerous impacts of the drought on the environment and community. See the storyboard above for an example.

Cause

Severe drought in Kenya.

Effects

“The East African nation's grasslands are dried out. Bare, leafless trees dot the landscape. Watering holes are almost dry.”
"The drought has caused cattle to die and crops to shrivel. This year's grain harvest is expected to be 28% less than last year's."
"Food prices have risen by as much as 130%."
“The WFP is working to keep kids in school, where it provides them with nutritious meals."

Lesson Plan Reference

Grade Level 4-5

Difficulty Level 2 (Reinforcing / Developing)

Type of Assignment Individual or Partner

Type of Activity: Cause and Effect within Plot

Common Core Standards

[ELA-Literacy/RI/4/5] Describe the overall structure (e.g., chronology, comparison, cause/effect, problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or information in a text or part of a text.

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Template and Class Instructions

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Student Instructions

Create a storyboard that shows cause and effect relationships in "Kenya’s Long Dry Season". Each cause and effect pair will be shown in the same row.

On the left side of the T-Chart, illustrate events that show cause (why).
On the right side of the T-Chart, illustrate events that are the direct effect of that cause.
Write a description below each cause.
In the description under each effect, show how the cause and effect are related.

Cause and Effect

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Rubric

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Cause and Effect T-Chart

Create a T-Chart storyboard that shows cause and effect relationships in the story. Each cause and effect pair will be shown in the same row.

	Proficient	Emerging	Beginning
Cause	All events on the left side of the T-Chart are correctly identified as causes. These events are why something else happened.	Most events on the left side of the T-Chart are correctly identified as causes or why something else happened.	Few or no events on the left side of the T-Chart are correctly identified as causes or why something else happened.
Effect	All events on the right side of the T-Chart are correctly identified as effects. These events are direct results of something else.	Most events on the right side of the T-Chart are correctly identified as effects or direct results of something else.	Few or no events on the right side of the T-Chart are correctly identified as effects or direct results of something else.
Images	Images clearly show the events in the story that have been identified as causes and effects.	Images show events from the story, but not all images match the cause and effect events.	Images do not represent the story or are missing.
Cause and Effect Relationship	All rows correctly show cause events in the story having a direct effect on the effect events.	Most rows correctly show cause events in the story having a direct effect on the effect events.	Few or no rows correctly show cause events in the story having a direct effect on the effect events.