Test students' ability to identify and explain cause-and-effect relationships in short picture-book stories. Scope includes recognizing causes (actions/events) and immediate or delayed effects, sequencing events, using picture and text clues, distinguishing cause from coincidence, and producing simple explanations orally or through drawings. Assessment tasks can include selecting cause/effect pairs, answering “why” questions, reordering key events, and creating a two-step cause-effect illustration. Suitable for Pre-K–Grade 2 using short, predictable picture books; difficulty: medium.