If you’re new around here, you may not know that I am ALWAYS preaching on and on about managing your time in the classroom efficiently, especially when it comes to centers.

This is because I am of the firm belief that centers clear space for the best teaching you can possibly give: small group time.

We as teachers get so bogged down in a bajillion (let’s pretend that’s a professional term, ok?) centers for our kids to do in one week, that we are exhausted and rarely give that much thought to our small group instruction.

It should 100% be the other way around.

Want strong data? Want engaged kids? Want growth? Want to foster a love of reading?

Small group is where it’s at.

But, even if small group time is your favorite thing, and you have this well-oiled machine of a literacy block…things can still feel a little stale sometimes. It happens to literally everyone. You get to a point in the year where you sit down to start a new week of reading groups with new texts and it all feels very boring.

If it’s boring for you, it’s boring for the kids. Time to shake things up!

Enter: my small group engagement series! This is the third installment of this series. Check out my Close Reading Engagement Activity HERE, and my Main Idea Lesson HERE. These lessons are uniquely crafted to spice up small group instruction in the way that is so much easier to do for math. Grab a set of cards or some double dice, and you have no less than 25 games at your fingertips. Reading requires some careful planning…and if you do have a great reading activity, it’s probably one of very few that you have in your arsenal.

This small group lesson is called “Cause and Effect Construction”. I love it for three reasons:

1.) It’s construction-themed, which is adorable.

2.) It can be used with ANY text. I do not provide a text here on purpose. I want you to use what you need to use in your room and not be boxed in by what I wrote for this one product. That raises the cost without necessarily adding value. (I have authored literally dozens of reading passages, though…just in case you need something!)

3.) It packs an instructional PUNCH. This helps kids visualize a story as a house: the problem is the foundation of any good story. It would be awfully boring to not have one, right? The solution is like the roof: it polishes the story off, and you don’t see it until the book is just about done. The bricks in between? Those are cause and effect relationships. Mini problem and solution moments, or reactions and behaviors, that happen because of the main problem. The main problem sets the story in motion, and it causes the characters to think, act, and feel certain ways. These thoughts, feelings, and behaviors cause other characters to respond. This can create tension, strengthen friendships, create danger…all in pursuit of the solution that will tie the story up with a bow!

This lesson includes a graphic organizer, mini anchor chart for reading notebooks, big anchor chart pieces for your wall display, and ideas for teaching it with legos!

Watch the video below to see my detailed explanation of the lesson, and scroll below to grab it for yourself!