Prepare pictures with captions in random order showing the steps of everyday activities, such as making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, getting ready for bed or going to the gas station. Tell the students to number the pictures in the proper order. Increase the complexity of the steps as students develop their sequencing abilities. Hand out copies of several easy recipes. Discuss with the students the importance of following the proper sequence when making a recipe. If possible, have the students make one or more of the recipes.
Teach students how to sequence the events of a story using the classic "The Three Little Pigs" story and the book "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs" by Jon Scieszka. Hand out copies of the story, assigning half the class to say the lines of the wolf, the other half the lines of the pigs. You will be the narrator. Read together Scieszka's book and compare the sequence of events. After each story, ask the students to tell you the main events, and put them in the correct sequence.
Before reading a short story as a class, tell the students to think about what happens at the beginning, middle and end. Pause during the story to ask the class what is happening, who the characters are and when the story transitions to the middle and end. Have the students prepare sentence strips about the main events in the story. Ask one or more students to tape their sentence strips in the correct order to the board and to retell the story to the class. Increase the length and complexity of the stories as the students progress in sequencing skills.
A book square is a tool to help students remember the sequence of events and details of what they read. Have students cut out an 8 1/2-inch square piece of light-colored paper. Fold the square in half horizontally and vertically to make four sections. Open up the paper. Fold in each corner so the tip touches the center and number each tip. Open the flaps and write the book title and a short summary of the story in the middle. Write events from the beginning of the story under flap one. Use flaps two and three for the middle of the story, and flap four for the end.