"Luckiest Time of All" Cause and Effect

Most short stories contain some form of cause and effect. One thing happens, and it causes something else to happen in response. It can be something as simple as “the old woman offered the girl a perfect, red, shiny apple, so she ate it.” It could also be something more complicated, like “the girl had endured so much pain at the hands of her evil step-mother that she had a hard time trusting adults, even when she was one.”

"The Luckiest Time of All" contains a number of things one could argue changed Elzie’s life. She decided to go to the Silas Green Show. She stopped to watch the dancing dog. She hurled her lucky pebble at the dancing dog. All of these choices had consequences. Students should find an event in the story that caused something else to happen. Using a T-Chart, they should label the left side “Cause” and the right side “Effect”. Illustrating both the cause and its effect, students should use the description bars to detail how the first event put the second in motion.

Student Instructions

Create a storyboard that shows cause and effect relationships in "Luckiest Time of All". Each cause and effect pair will be shown in the same row.

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