Use an Irish Folk Tale to Teach Cause and Effect
Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato Elementary Reading Lesson Plan
Feb 17, 2009
Tomie dePaola's Irish folk tale Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato [G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1992] makes a great St. Patrick's Day read-aloud book. Elementary teachers can also use its plot to teach students how to identify cause and effect relationships.
How to Introduce Cause and Effect
Remind students that an effect is "what happened" and a cause is "why it happened." Connect to the book by using an example related to growing plants, such as, Because it rained, the plant had the water it needed to grow. Invite students to share examples of cause and effect relationships in their own lives.
Share the Book and Have Students Record Causes and Effects
Display the cover and have students identify the object behind Jamie and the tool in his hand. Then start a cause and effect chart with a column on the left in which to record causes, or reasons why things happen and a column on the right in which to record effects, or short descriptions of the events that happen. Suggest that students identify both things that might happen if something else happens and events that actually do happen. Note that sometimes the effect of one cause can in turn become the cause of a further effect. Add that some causes have several effects and some effects have several causes. Remind students to look for clue words that indicate causes and effects, such as if and because.
Read the book aloud, pausing from time to time to have students identify causes and effects. Following are some examples of causes and effects:
- If Jamie (or Eileen) does not dig up the praties, they will have nothing to eat in winter.
- Because Jamie is lazy, Eileen must dig the praties.
- If Eileen does not dig the praties, there will be no praties in winter. If there are no praties in winter, Jamie will have no food and will starve to death.
- If a person catches a leprechaun, then the leprechaun will pay for his freedom with a pot of gold.
- If Jamie plants the pratie seed from the leprechaun and waters it, then he will grow the biggest pratie in the world.
- Because the pratie is so big, it blocks the road so that no one can get by.
- If Jamie promises not plant another pratie seed, then the villagers will promise to give him and Eileen plenty of food.
With more advanced students, note that causes and effects are not always stated in the text. Sometimes a reader must make an inference, or combine what he or she already knows with information given in the text to figure out why something happens the way it does. For example, readers must infer that the reason the people do not want to see or hear a potato again is because after eating so many potatoes all winter long, they are sick and tired of eating them.
Integrated Enrichment Activities
- For a related social studies activity, discuss the history of the introduction of potatoes to Ireland and the importance of potatoes to the Irish diet in the past.
- For a related cooking activity, have students brainstorm different ways to serve potatoes, such as mashed, fried, French fried, crisped, baked, and so on. Then give students practice with following steps in a process as the class selects and follows a simple recipe to cook and serve potatoes.
- For a related life science activity, have students cut out and plant the eyes of a potato and grow their own potato plants.
- For a related physical science activity, use the illustration where Jamie uses a lever to try to pry the big potato out of the ground as a focus for a discussion and demonstration of simple machines (specifically levers).
This elementary reading lesson plan can be used as part of a unit on folktales or as a standalone St. Patrick's Day reading lesson plan. Mastering the ability to identify relationships between causes and effects in a plot will help students not just become better readers, but also allow them to apply this skill to understanding cause and effect relationships in other content areas, such as science and social studies.
Elementary teachers can use the sequel to this book, Jamie O'Rourke and the Pooka, to teach characterization and author's craft and use other Irish folktales to teach reading comprehension skills or practice writing skills.
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