Teaching Story Sequence
Ideas to Teach Students How to Recall Events of a Story in Order
Dec 23, 2008
Teaching students how to recall the facts of a story in the proper order is a skill that contributes to comprehension. Many students will have difficulty recalling the details in order, or will forget many details of the story during a recall activity. These project ideas will help reinforce student memory of the order of events in a story.
Story Sequence Craft
Students will need the book they read, five index cards, crayons, colored pencils or markers, glue or tape, and a strip of paper or ribbon. Have students write the book information on the first index card: author, title of book and if you want, publisher information. On each subsequent index card, students are to draw a picture and write one or two sentences detailing the main events that happened in the story. They can then either glue or tape the cards to the strip of paper or ribbon to hang on the wall or bulletin board.
Sequence Sticks
In your reading center, you can keep a supply of Popsicle sticks for students to use in this sequencing activity. Choosing four sticks, students are to write the title on the first stick. On each subsequent stick, students should pick a few words to represent the beginning, middle and end of the story. Using a tiny dab of glue, students should connect all four sticks in a square, to represent the whole story.
You can then either display the stick squares on a bulletin board or have a display for students to stack the sticks on. A display can be made by gluing a toilet paper roll or paper towel roll on a piece of cardboard. As students read more books, the tower will begin to grow. You can call it the book tower or other cute name.
Story Chain
To indicate how each event in a story work together, have students write the various events in order on strips of colored construction paper. The title and author should go on the first strip of paper. Then, using small pieces of tape or a glue stick, students can connect the paper together in a story chain. You can then use the chains to decorate the classroom. This is a particularly fun activity for use around Christmas time, as it gives students a way to decorate the classroom without you having to spend any money.
Having students put in writing the events of a story in order, will reinforce the skill of retelling the details of what they read. Although this skill may seem elementary, many students have difficulty, and students in kindergarten through third grade may benefit from these reading extensions.
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