Activity for Any Novel: Causa y Efecto

Teaching with comprehensible novels is one of my favorite things to do in my classroom. I anchor my classes and content around several different novels, so last year I spent quite a bit of time compiling different  activities that could be adapted novel to novel. I'll be updating this to include more over time.

Causa y  Efecto (You can find my template here): I am all about interdisciplinary activities so when my Spanish 1 kids were talking about learning about cause and effect in English I figured now was the time to do the same in Spanish. It's a relatively easy concept, but is great for triggering deeper and more meaningful analysis of the text. I use a simple template that helps students guide their thinking and then either ask students to work independently or through guided discussion. It's a great way to target specific vocabulary by  filling out the  form with your students or to check for comprehension. 

I have made a template in both English and Spanish (but you can feel free to do it yourself or have students just do this on scrap paper) so that I  can do this across all levels of Spanish that I teach  (Spanish 1-4 and 6th grade). My template prints two to a page  to save on paper/printing and I keep some available to me in my classroom at all times.

I  have done this a couple of ways. My go to with class novels is to have a discussion at the beginning of class, work with vocabulary a little, have students read for that day, and then some form of activity. This form was an easy option for students to choose as their activity for the day. That being said here are some other variations.

1) I have students fill one out after each chapter. They stable them together as they go until at the end they have created  a booklet of all the different major moments from the novel we are reading.

2) I've also done it so that students fill out their template after a   specific moment in the class and I have them do a  2-3-4. Where the group they discuss with slowly grows and they share what they wrote down.

3)You can also use this as a  comprehension check/formative assessment. I like to have students fill in the front and on the back of the paper depending on their level analyze a little more.

Hope this helps you and you're able to  use it with your own students!