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English lesson plan · 4th grade (Year 5 in England) · 60 minutes

Text structure (cause–effect, compare, problem–solution)

Reading Comprehension

CCSS RI.4.5CCSS RI.5.5England: Y5/6 ReadingEngland: KS2 SATs Reading

Objective and success criteria

Students will: Text structure (cause–effect, compare, problem–solution).

  • I can answer questions on today's skill on my own, without help.
  • I can explain each step and say why it works.
  • I can check my answer and spot a mistake.

Before and after

Needs first: Order of events; Main idea and supporting details

Leads to: Analysing structure; Plot stages: exposition to resolution; Foreshadowing, flashback, cliffhanger and red herring

Materials: A short text or extract (one copy each), Highlighters, Question cards, Mini whiteboards, A short model text on the board, Printed student sheet (below).

Warm-up · 6 min

  • Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Order of events; Main idea and supporting details). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
  • Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.
  1. Dad cracked two eggs into a bowl. He mixed them. Then he cooked them in a pan. What did Dad do after he mixed the eggs? (cooked them in a pan / washed the bowl / bought eggs / cracked the eggs) → cooked them in a panPrompt: Look for time words: first, then, next, after, finally.
  2. First, Pia put on her socks. Next, she put on her shoes. Then she ran outside. What did Pia do last? (put on her shoes / ran outside / put on her socks / went to bed) → ran outsidePrompt: Look for time words: first, then, next, after, finally.
  3. First, Pia put on her socks. Next, she put on her shoes. Then she ran outside. What did Pia do first? (ate lunch / ran outside / put on her socks / put on her shoes) → put on her socksPrompt: Look for time words: first, then, next, after, finally.

Hook · 6 min

  • Read the first lines of a short text aloud and ask what students predict will happen and why.
  • Share the objective: Text structure (cause–effect, compare, problem–solution). Read the success criteria together.

I do: model it · 12 min

  • Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
  • Example: The desert is hot and dry. Sand dunes stretch for miles, cacti stand tall, and lizards dart between the rocks. How is this text organised?
  • Step 1: Text structure is how a writer organises ideas.
  • Step 2: So the answer is: description
  • Answer: description
  • Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

We do: guided practice · 12 min

  • Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
  • Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.
  1. First, the egg hatches into a caterpillar. Next, the caterpillar eats and grows. Then it forms a chrysalis. Finally, a butterfly emerges. How is this text organised? (cause and effect / problem and solution / chronological order (sequence) / compare and contrast) → chronological order (sequence)Prompt: How is the information organised?
  2. Because the river flooded, many roads were closed. As a result, the school buses could not run, so school was cancelled. How is this text organised? (cause and effect / compare and contrast / problem and solution / description) → cause and effectPrompt: How is the information organised?

You do: independent practice · 17 min

  • Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
  • Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 8 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

Exit ticket · 7 min

  • Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.

Watch out for

  • Answering from memory or opinion instead of evidence in the text.
  • Copying a long quote without explaining what it shows.

Support and stretch

Support

  • Review first: Order of events.
  • Use concrete materials: a short text or extract (one copy each).
  • Give the first step of each question, or a partly worked example to finish.
  • Pair with a confident partner for the guided practice.

Stretch

  • Move on to: Analysing structure; Plot stages: exposition to resolution; Foreshadowing, flashback, cliffhanger and red herring.
  • Explain a common mistake in writing and how to fix it.
  • Write a word problem that uses today's skill, then solve a partner's.

Homework and more practice

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/english/grade-4.

Free lesson plan from eurekami.com/lesson-plan-builder

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Text structure (cause–effect, compare, problem–solution)

Name

Date

Score/ 8

The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter

The storm had been building all afternoon. By the time the sun set, waves as tall as houses were hurling themselves against the rocks below Gull Point Lighthouse, and the wind screamed around the tower like a wild animal. Nell pressed her face to the window of the little cottage. Her father had rowed to the mainland that morning to fetch the doctor for Mrs Penrose, and the sea had turned before he could return. Now, for the first time in her twelve years, Nell was alone at the lighthouse. She knew what that meant. Every night at dusk, the great lamp at the top of the tower had to be lit. Without it, ships would have no warning of the rocks. Nell grabbed the lantern and her father's oilskin coat, which hung down past her knees, and pushed open the door. The wind nearly knocked her flat. Bent double, she stumbled across the yard and into the tower. There were one hundred and twelve steps to the top. Nell had climbed them hundreds of times, but never in the dark, never with the whole tower trembling. Halfway up, her lantern flickered and almost went out. She stopped, cupped her hand around the flame and whispered, "Not now. Please, not now." At the top, her fingers were numb with cold. She trimmed the wick the way her father had shown her, filled the oil and struck a match. Nothing. A second match. Nothing. With the third, a tiny flame caught, grew and then blazed, and the great lens began to turn, sweeping its beam across the furious sea. Far out in the darkness, a ship's horn sounded twice. Nell did not know whose ship it was. But she knew that, tonight, it would find its way home.

  1. Question 1

    Read "The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter". How does the writer build tension in paragraph 6?

    • A. The first two matches fail before the third one lights.
    • B. The father arrives home.
    • C. Nell falls down the stairs.
    • D. The ship crashes.

The Lemonade Stand

Marcus wanted a new bike helmet, but it cost twenty dollars. He had only five. "Why not set up a lemonade stand?" suggested his grandmother. She helped him squeeze a big bowl of lemons and stir in sugar and cold water. Marcus painted a sign that said LEMONADE – 50 CENTS. On Saturday morning, Marcus put his table at the end of the driveway. For the first hour, nobody came. Cars zoomed past. Marcus began to think it was a silly idea. Then he noticed that people were walking to the park across the road for a football match. He picked up his sign and moved the table right next to the park gate. Within ten minutes, a line had formed. By lunchtime, the jug was empty. Marcus counted his coins. He had earned exactly fifteen dollars. With the five he already had, it was enough. "You did it!" said Grandma. "We did it," said Marcus. "And next time, I'll think about where the customers are before I start."

  1. Question 2

    Read "The Lemonade Stand". What problem did Marcus have during the first hour?

    • A. Nobody came to buy lemonade.
    • B. It started to rain.
    • C. The lemonade was too sour.
    • D. He lost his money.

Harbour at Dawn (GCSE-style extract)

The harbour did not so much wake as surrender to the morning. Fog lay over the water like a damp grey blanket that someone had forgotten to fold, and the fishing boats nodded at their moorings, half-asleep, their ropes creaking in complaint. Old Tomas was already there. He was always there. He sat on an upturned crate at the end of the quay, mending a net with fingers that had long ago stopped feeling the cold. His knife flashed, paused, flashed again. Every so often he lifted his head and sniffed the air, as if the sea had written him a letter only he could read. Behind him, the town stirred reluctantly. A shutter rattled up. A dog barked twice and thought better of it. Somewhere a kettle began its thin, rising whistle. The smell of bread drifted from the bakery on Water Lane and mixed with the older, deeper smells of salt, diesel and fish. Then the sun arrived. It did not rise so much as break through – one bright blade splitting the fog, then another, until the whole harbour was suddenly ablaze. The water turned from slate to copper. Gulls exploded upward from the harbour wall, screaming. The boats seemed to sit up straighter. Tomas did not look up. He tied off the last knot, tested it with a sharp tug, and laid the net across his knees like a sleeping cat. Only then did he raise his eyes to the brightening sea, and for a moment, just a moment, his face softened into something very close to a smile.

  1. Question 3

    Read "Harbour at Dawn (GCSE-style extract)". Why might the writer end with Tomas's near-smile?

    • A. to end on a quiet, personal moment after the dramatic sunrise
    • B. to introduce a new character
    • C. to show he is angry about the weather
    • D. to reveal a twist about his identity

The Shark on the Motorway

During a storm last spring, a photo exploded across social media. It showed a large shark swimming beside cars on a flooded motorway. Within hours it had been shared more than 80,000 times, often with captions such as "Stay indoors — sharks in the streets!" Fourteen-year-old Amira Haddad saw the photo in her family group chat. Something felt wrong. "The shark looked too sharp compared with the blurry water," she said. "So I decided to check." First, Amira ran a reverse image search. She found the same shark in a wildlife photo published years earlier, on a website about ocean animals. Next, she checked two local news sites. Neither mentioned sharks; both reported flooding and road closures. Finally, she found an article from a fact-checking organisation explaining that the image had been edited and had appeared during several different storms in different countries. Amira posted the fact-check in the group chat. "My uncle had already shared the photo," she laughed. "He was embarrassed, but he thanked me." Fact-checkers say edited images spread fastest when they are shocking and arrive during real emergencies, when people are anxious and want to warn others. Their advice is simple: pause before you share, look for the original source, and check whether reliable outlets are reporting the same thing.

  1. Question 4

    Read "The Shark on the Motorway". How is paragraph 3 mainly organised?

    • A. as a problem with no solution
    • B. as a comparison of two sharks
    • C. as a list of opinions
    • D. as a sequence of steps (first, next, finally)

  1. Question 5

    First, the egg hatches into a caterpillar. Next, the caterpillar eats and grows. Then it forms a chrysalis. Finally, a butterfly emerges. How is this text organised?

    • A. cause and effect
    • B. chronological order (sequence)
    • C. compare and contrast
    • D. problem and solution

Why Do Leaves Change in Autumn?

In many parts of the world, autumn turns forests into blazes of yellow, orange and red. But where do these bright shades come from? The answer is hidden inside every leaf. During spring and summer, leaves are busy making food for the tree. To do this, they use sunlight, water and air. A green substance called chlorophyll captures the energy from sunlight. There is so much chlorophyll in a leaf that it hides all the other shades. As autumn arrives, the days grow shorter and there is less sunlight. Trees such as maples and oaks begin to get ready for winter. They stop making chlorophyll. As the green fades away, the yellows and oranges that were in the leaf all along begin to show. Some trees, such as certain maples, also make a brand-new red substance in autumn. This is why some leaves turn bright red or purple. Finally, the tree seals off each leaf where it joins the branch. The leaf dries out and falls. Without leaves, the tree uses less water during the cold winter months. In spring, new green leaves will grow, and the cycle will begin again.

  1. Question 6

    Read "Why Do Leaves Change in Autumn?". Which text structure is mainly used in paragraph 3?

    • A. compare and contrast
    • B. problem and solution
    • C. a personal story
    • D. cause and effect

Harbour at Dawn (GCSE-style extract)

The harbour did not so much wake as surrender to the morning. Fog lay over the water like a damp grey blanket that someone had forgotten to fold, and the fishing boats nodded at their moorings, half-asleep, their ropes creaking in complaint. Old Tomas was already there. He was always there. He sat on an upturned crate at the end of the quay, mending a net with fingers that had long ago stopped feeling the cold. His knife flashed, paused, flashed again. Every so often he lifted his head and sniffed the air, as if the sea had written him a letter only he could read. Behind him, the town stirred reluctantly. A shutter rattled up. A dog barked twice and thought better of it. Somewhere a kettle began its thin, rising whistle. The smell of bread drifted from the bakery on Water Lane and mixed with the older, deeper smells of salt, diesel and fish. Then the sun arrived. It did not rise so much as break through – one bright blade splitting the fog, then another, until the whole harbour was suddenly ablaze. The water turned from slate to copper. Gulls exploded upward from the harbour wall, screaming. The boats seemed to sit up straighter. Tomas did not look up. He tied off the last knot, tested it with a sharp tug, and laid the net across his knees like a sleeping cat. Only then did he raise his eyes to the brightening sea, and for a moment, just a moment, his face softened into something very close to a smile.

  1. Question 7

    Read "Harbour at Dawn (GCSE-style extract)". How does the focus shift in paragraph 4 compared with paragraph 3?

    • A. from Tomas's thoughts to his past
    • B. from morning to night
    • C. from quiet, small sounds of the town to a sudden, dramatic burst of light
    • D. from the harbour to a different town

The Moon's Night Walk (a poem)

The moon puts on her silver coat and tiptoes up the sky. She hums a tune to sleepy owls and winks at clouds nearby. She paints the rooftops pearly white, she lights the cat's way home, she peeps into the children's rooms to check they're not alone. She counts the stars like sleeping sheep, she sings the sea to rest, she hangs a lantern on the hill for travellers in the west. And when the sun yawns in the east and stretches out his rays, the moon slips off her silver coat and hides away for days. But look up on a quiet night when all the town's asleep: she's tiptoeing across the sky with promises to keep.

  1. Question 8

    Read "The Moon's Night Walk (a poem)". Which words rhyme in the first verse?

    • A. moon and tune
    • B. sky and nearby
    • C. coat and owls
    • D. silver and sleepy

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Answer key: Text structure (cause–effect, compare, problem–solution)

  1. 1. A. The first two matches fail before the third one lights.

  2. 2. A. Nobody came to buy lemonade.

  3. 3. A. to end on a quiet, personal moment after the dramatic sunrise

  4. 4. D. as a sequence of steps (first, next, finally)

  5. 5. B. chronological order (sequence)

  6. 6. D. cause and effect

  7. 7. C. from quiet, small sounds of the town to a sudden, dramatic burst of light

  8. 8. B. sky and nearby