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Cause and Effect With Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

March 16 By Linda Kamp 9 Comments

In order to turn our readers into comprehenders we need to go deep when working with a book.  One of my very favorite books that makes reading for meaning so much fun is Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Perfect for teaching cause and effect, it is also rich with comprehension building opportunities for students to make inferences, decode longer words, as well as build social skills. In this post I’ve shared ideas and free activities for teaching cause and effect in your classroom.

Teaching cause and effect with Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Teaching Cause and Effect

Introducing students to cause and effect relationships can be tricky. Some students struggle to connect events with outcomes and can easily confuse which is the cause and which is the effect. Using this Alexander book with its familiar to kids causes and immediate effects make it an ideal mentor text to teach students to identify cause and effect.  (This slide is part of an Alexander teaching PowerPoint.)

Teaching cause and effect with Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

Identifying Cause and Effect in a Text

Alexander’s day, while terrible and horrible, is rich with opportunities for students to identify cause and effect relationships. I have several copies of the book, purchased with Scholastic bonus points, so I had groups of students work together to identify things that happened to Alexander and the actions that caused them. Students then wrote them on sticky notes.

Teaching cause and effect with Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

After working with their group, students can add their findings to a class anchor chart.

Cause and effect anchor chart and reading activities for Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

We extended our cause and effect activities into our literacy centers by matching causes from the story to their effects.

Teaching cause and effect with Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Partners talked about how the author used cause and effect to tell the story.

Cause and effect lesson with Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
After collecting causes and effects in their groups, students wrote them in this graphic organizer that folds into a cause and effect trifold.
Teaching cause and effect with Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Click here to download two FREE cause & effect activities.

Working with Vocabulary

As all teachers are, I am strategic when pulling vocabulary from a book we are working with. I like to have students work with words that not only increase their vocabulary but also give opportunities to work with grammar and spelling patterns.

Working with vocabulary and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

While at the vocabulary center students made mini books to add to a culminating Alexander booklet.

Working with vocabulary and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Decoding Longer Words

Like all teachers, I have a wide range of reading abilities in my classroom.  This book is a treasure trove of interesting, longer words for students to work with. I pulled words from the book to have students work with decoding and counting syllables in longer words.

Decoding longer words reading activities for Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

Writing About Reading

This book holds many possibilities for different types of writing. Students wrote summaries and opinion pieces, but writing persuasive letters is a favorite.

At the end of each week my class writes Friday letters to their parents describing what they’ve learned and the highlights of their week.  I always have students end their letters with a question their parents can answer when they write back.  This week we did something a little different. We wrote persuasive letters from Alexander’s point of view asking “Can we move to Australia?”.

Persuasive letter writing activity for Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

We did several types of writing during our Alexander book study including journal writing about social skills.

Student discussion and journal writing activities for teaching social skills with Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
Teachable moments that relate to social skills and determining how big a problem really is focused our attention on the question, “Is it really worth moving to Australia over?”

Having students work in groups to discuss how these situations feel and how Alexander reacted gives students a chance to think of ways he could have handled them differently or behaved more appropriately. Students also make a deeper connection to the character as they can all relate to conflict with friends and siblings, disappointment, and hurt feelings.

Creating a Timeline

As an extension activity, a group of my students created this flow map type timeline of Alexander’s day.

A timeline of Alexander's day for Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Creating timelines is a great way to work on retelling skills and even to support summary writing. Students first made a list of  key events and wrote them on index cards.  Students placed the cards in order and glued them onto a large piece of butcher paper.

Alexander Foldable Lapbooks

I’m always on the lookout for fun ways to compile and display my students’ learning.  As a culminating project we put together all of their writing and mini books into an Alexander foldable booklets.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day foldable lapbook with cause and effect activities.

I reserve this kind of project for special books (and my favorite ones). These serve as wonderful learning portfolios that my class is always proud to display.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day reading bulletin board display.
Foldable lapbook for Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Click Here to see more of this Alexander book study and materials used in this post.

The unit includes a 6-Lesson teaching PowerPoint, literacy centers, assessments, and a customizable Alexander booklet.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day book study for grades 1-3.

I hope you’ve found some cause and effect activities that will help your students connect causes to effects with this wonderful book. Be sure to pin this for later so you’ll have it when you plan!

Teaching kids to see cause and effect- It can be tricky to find books for 1st, 2nd, and even 3rd graders to teach cause and effect. Download the FREE cause and effect activity pages in this post can help. Get lesson ideas and see how we used this anchor chart and partner reading activities for Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

For more book study ideas, and ways to turn your readers into thinkers AND comprehenders, click on the pictures to read these posts!

Teaching with Stellaluna: Turning Readers into comprehenders. Comprehension strategies for going deeper into the characters and determining a character's point of view. This post also has some great ideas for having students write about what they are reading.

Stellaluna: Turning Readers Into Comprehenders

Comparing versions of The Gingerbread Man to turn readers Into thinkers

Comparing Versions of The Gingerbread Man: Turning Readers Into Thinkers

Teaching central message to 1st, 2nd, and even 3rd graders can be tricky. Using a familiar story like The Gingerbread Man along with the steps and guiding questions in this post can help students understand and determine the central message, big idea, lesson, or moral in a text. These teaching ideas and anchor chart are an ideal addition to your gingerbread man unit and activities!

Determining the Central Message In Gingerbread Stories

Happy teaching!

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Filed Under: Anchor Charts, Book Activities, Popular Posts, Reading, Writing About Reading Tagged With: anchor charts, book studies, cause and effect, foldable lapbooks, freebies, writing about reading

Comments

  1. Andrea Knight says

    March 16 at 1:06 pm

    Linda… these lessons are great and so creative! You're so talented. 🙂

    Reply
  2. Anna says

    July 28 at 1:48 pm

    nice

    Reply
  3. Chloe says

    September 11 at 3:59 pm

    How amazing. So many strategies and skills all using one engaging book:)

    Reply
    • Linda says

      September 16 at 12:31 pm

      Thank you Chloe! The possibilities are endless with this wonderful book! It’s definitely an oldie but goodie!

      Reply
  4. Rachel Butler says

    September 15 at 3:19 pm

    I want to thank you for such great units; each done so wonderfully!I am a special education teacher and these units are perfect! The stories may be a bit low for middle school students, however the familiar books are welcoming to my students and they are more receptive to learning the new concepts being taught.

    Thank you!

    Reply
    • Linda says

      September 16 at 12:28 pm

      Hi Rachel! You just made my day, and you are so very welcome!
      all the respect, kuddos, and stars in heaven to you for the work you do with our special ed kiddos!

      Reply
  5. Manya says

    October 28 at 3:33 am

    We are just starting ReadyGen and it is overwhelming! I’m a bit OCD and really like to have charts with each area of ELA and then list components for me to plan. You have fleshed our this one book superbly. Thanks
    I’m hooked on you!

    Reply
    • Linda says

      October 31 at 8:58 am

      I’m so glad this posts is helpful for you Manya!

      Reply

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