Sequencing
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Sequencing is an important comprehension skill during both reading and writing. Students need to understand the chronological order of events as they read, and apply chronological order to their stories as they write. The GrammarSong video “Sequencing,” highlights the use of time-order words as clues when both reading and writing. The hands-on and paper/pencil activities give students with multiple learning styles the opportunity to practice this necessary skill. |
Review Video & Follow These Instructional Guidelines
Second Grade
- Watch GrammarSong video “Sequencing” until familiar. Proceed to Third Grade Recommendations as needed.
Third Grade
- Orally retell familiar fairy tales. Point out that the order of the events, or sequencing, is important for true understanding the story.
- Extra Engagement: Work as a whole class (on a smartboard or whiteboard), individually, or in partners to complete grammar sheet “Sequencing Familiar Fairy Tales.”
Instant Literacy Activity: Print out the “Sequencing Familiar Fairy Tales” grammar sheet cutting apart the individual strips within each fairy tale story. Present each student with a different strip and a blank sheet of paper. Allow each student to glue the strip to the bottom of the paper and illustrate that particular event within the fairy tale. When all students have finished, call up the group of students who drew events from “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” for example. The students should stand shoulder to shoulder in the front of the room as the remaining students read the pages in the order randomly presented. The students who are seated should “give directions” to the students holding their illustrated pages to put the story in chronological order. Repeat procedure for “Cinderella” and “The Three Little Pigs.”
Fourth Grade
- Repeat Third Grade Recommendations as needed.
- Work with a partner, in small groups, or individually to cut and sequence the events within the grammar activity “Sequencing Strips with Answer Key.”
- Extra Engagement: Print out the “Sequencing Strips with Answer Key” grammar sheet cutting apart the individual strips within each activity sequence. Present each student with a different strip and a blank sheet of paper. Allow each student to glue the strip to the bottom of the paper and illustrate that particular event or action. When all students have finished, call up the group of students who drew events for ”Playing Candyland” or “Making an Ice Cream Cone” for example. The students should stand shoulder to shoulder in the front of the room as the remaining students read the pages in the order randomly presented. The students who are seated should “give directions” to the students holding their illustrated pages to put the story in chronological order. Repeat procedure for the remaining real life situations represented within the activity.
- Proceed to Fifth Grade Recommendations as needed.
Fifth Grade
- Repeat any recommendations from previous grade levels as needed.
- Pay special attention to point out chronological text structures as you read within the classroom. Point out or emphasize transition words or subordinating conjunctions as students use them within their writing to add a time-order value to their fictional and non-fictional pieces.
Creating Connections: When studying science, math, and social studies, re-emphasize the use of chronological order when learning in other subject areas. For example, studying the scientific method, life-cycles, procedures in math, and timelines of historical events are all real life illustrations of the importance of sequencing and chronological order. As a “getting-to-know-you” activity, I have my fifth graders write their autobiographies. I discuss how their autobiographies wouldn’t make sense to their readers if they didn’t sequence the events in chronological order.