If You Give A Pig A Pancake ...

This series of books is wonderful to use for any class. I have used these books several times to teach cause and effect to students from Pre-K to third grade. The If you give ... series of books, written by Laura Numeroff and illustrated by Felicia Bond, tell a story of what happens if you give a pig, moose, or mouse something to eat. Each story is filled with silly consequences for each action. For instance, if you give a pig a pancake. She will want some syrup and then she'll probably get all sticky. So she'll want to take a bath and so on.
I've used this book to talk about cause and effect with lower level students. We start out by reading the book once, just to listen at first. Then the second time we read it, the students have to pay attention to what happens. After the second reading, we (as a class) will fill in a cause and effect flow chart that looks something like this:       Pig --> Pancake -->  ___________ --> Sticky --> ______________
This flow chart will include most of the actions and consequences from the story. I think that this is a great way to begin teaching cause and effect, and the kids love it too.

Vocabulary:

Series (noun) - a group or a number of related or similar things, events, etc., sequence
Several (adjective) - being more than two but fewer than many in number or kind
Illustrate (verb) - to furnish (a book, magazine, etc.) with drawings, pictures, or other artwork intended for explanation, elucidation, or adornment
Silly (adjective) - absurd; ridiculous; irrational
Consequence (noun) - the effect, result, or outcome of something occurring earlier
Sticky (adjective) - covered in adhesive matter
Listen (verb) - to give attention with the ear; attend closely for the purpose of hearing
Attention (noun) - civility or courtesy
Chart (noun) - a graphic representation; graph
Flow (verb) - to move along in a stream

Exercise:

Unscramble the words below. Then create your own original sentence for five of the words.

cstkiy
cqoneseucen
teinttano
lsiyl
tharc
enstil
steilulart
folw
eerssi
veerasl

Grammar Point:

A verb is a word that typically expresses action, state, or relation between two things. It may be inflected for tense, mood, or to show agreement with their subject or object.  Ex. teach, give, and fill.  Look through this blog and find five verbs. Write a sentence using at least three of them.