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Cause and Effect Worksheets

11 free PDFsUS Letter or A4Answer key includedNo login

Match causes and effects, choose what happened or why, finish because sentences and find causes and effects in a story, with answer keys.

Download the cause and effect worksheets

Cause and effect chart

A chart to read together and keep.

Match causes and effects

Draw lines or cut and paste to join each cause to its effect.

What happened and why?

Read a cause and choose the effect, or read an effect and choose the cause.

Because and what will happen

Finish because sentences and write the effect of a cause.

Cause and effect in a text

Find causes and effects in a short story and a nonfiction text, plus a blank organizer.

Print at 100% (actual size) for the cleanest tracing lines.

About these cause and effect worksheets

A cause is why something happens. An effect is what happens. First graders use cause and effect every day (it rained, so we played inside), and noticing it in books helps them understand how events in a story and facts in nonfiction connect.

These cause and effect worksheets begin with a chart and picture matching: draw a line from each cause to its effect, or cut and glue each effect next to its cause. Then children read a cause and choose the effect, read an effect and choose the cause, finish sentences with because, and write what will happen next.

Two organizers pair an original story about a sand castle and a short text about falling leaves with cause and effect boxes. A blank organizer works with any book. Pages with right answers have an answer key.

Standards

  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.3Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.1.6Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts, including using frequently occurring conjunctions to signal simple relationships (e.g., because).
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.1.1.GUse frequently occurring conjunctions (e.g., and, but, or, so, because).
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.1.2Ask and answer questions about key details in a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media.

How to use them

  1. Read the chart together and act out a cause and effect: drop a ball (cause), it bounces (effect).
  2. Do a match page next. Talk through each picture before drawing the lines.
  3. On the choose pages, ask two questions: What happened? Why did it happen?
  4. Use the because page to practice saying and writing why.
  5. After reading any story, use the blank organizer to find two or three causes and effects.

Teaching tips

  • Clue words help: because, so, and then often show cause and effect.
  • Some children mix up cause and effect. Remind them the cause always comes first in time.
  • The cut and paste page has a no-cut twin (draw the lines) with the same pairs.
  • Ask what if questions: What if Max had watered his plant?
  • Writing answers show examples. Accept any answer that makes sense.

Questions teachers and parents ask

What is cause and effect?

A cause is why something happens and an effect is what happens because of it. If it rains (cause), the grass gets wet (effect).

What words signal cause and effect?

Because, so, since and and then are common clue words for first graders.

How do I explain cause and effect to a 6-year-old?

Use real life: you forgot your coat, so you felt cold. Ask what happened, then why it happened.

Do these worksheets need cutting?

One page is cut and paste, and it has a twin with the same pairs where children draw lines instead. All other pages need no cutting.