Cause and Effect with Poetry

Happy National Poetry Month! It's Jen here from An Adventure in Literacy. There are just a few days left of Poetry Month. As quality educators, we know that poetry should be celebrated all year- not just in April. However, I thought I would end poetry month with some tips on using poetry to teach cause and effect.

Poems are short and simple. That makes them perfect for practicing cause and effect. Two of my favorite poets for elementary students are Jack Prelutsky and Shel Silverstein. They are classic poets that I enjoyed as a child and my students continue to love their poems each year. Kids enjoy and appreciate the humor and silliness in their poems.

In Jack Prelutsky's books there are a lot of short, four line poems. Many of these have a cause and effect that young readers can figure out easily. We create a chart of poetry cause and effect and add to it as we're reading the poems. Most of these poems are silly, so students really enjoy the fictional cause and effect scenarios.

You can also use longer poems to analyze different causes for one effect . "I Should Have Stayed in Bed Today" by Jack Prelutsky is a great poem to discuss the causes of why the boy thinks he should have stayed in bed.

If you're interested in more great teaching ideas for cause and effect be sure to check out Bex's post on Literacy Land. Do you have a favorite poem to use for cause and effect? Leave us a comment and let us know.