Choose a story that has an identifiable plot with at least four identifiable plot points but not too many. Classic fairy tales are often well suited, with a beginning situation, the presentation of a problem, the hero's solving the problem and the "happily ever after." Be careful, though, of outdated gender and ethnic attitudes or extreme violence.
You can prepare a storyboard using photocopies of four to six illustrations from a familiar edition of the story. Read the story to the children by describing the illustrations one by one in their proper sequence and emphasizing sequence words such as "first," "next" and "then." After you've reviewed the story, shuffle the illustrations and engage the children in helping you sort the story out. Help them by repeating your descriptions of individual illustrations and asking the children "what happens next?"
Especially if the children are having any difficulty dealing with a whole story, select just one simple plot turn — someone cuts down a tree, someone bakes a cake, a character leaves the scene or returns — and provide representative shapes on a felt or magnetic board. Ask "What happens first — using the mixer or serving the cake with frosting?" Introduce reading left to right by asking the children to place the shapes on the board in order.
Give one action from the story to each child, if necessary bolstered by the storyboard illustrations, though they may need to be simplified. Give the assignments in scrambled order, then ask the children to act their parts to make the story make sense. After each segment, let everyone join in asking "What happens next?"