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Associating the letter-sound relationship with a fun song! Can be in response to a big book that was read as a whole class.

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BALANCEDLITERACYDIET :: index :: Balanced Literacy Diet

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Once students have this song memorized, "mix it up" by holding up the letter-sound cards out of order - You may need to sing the song slower to give students time to figure out which sound goes with the letter you are showing - For another added challenge, sing the song slightly differently byjust having students say the letter-sounds (not the letter names), and by adding any word that starts with the sound (this will make it sillier) - For example: "I have a /d/ /d/ dinosaur!

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After reading: Focus on vocabulary. Students brainstorm words related to a theme from story read, then they group the words based on association and label the group.

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Words hunts are a great tool for teachers to use to help students connect spelling and reading words. Also, teachers can use word hunts when integrating a thematic unit. Furthermore, word hunts can be used to categorize words together.

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After reading: Students re-tell story using graphic organizer that helps sort beginning/middle/end and elements of the story.

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Story Maps | Classroom Strategy | Reading Rockets

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Story maps use graphic organizers to help students learn the elements of a book or story. The most basic story maps focus on the beginning, middle, and end of the story. More advanced organizers focus more on plot or character traits.

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Word Hunts: During reading: Looking for words that follow a certain spelling pattern. Can be a word hunt or a word sort. Helps make the connection between reading words and spelling words. 

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Word Hunts: During reading: Looking for words that follow a certain spelling pattern. Can be a word hunt or a word sort. Helps make the connection between reading words and spelling words. 

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Words hunts are a great tool for teachers to use to help students connect spelling and reading words. Also, teachers can use word hunts when integrating a thematic unit. Furthermore, word hunts can be used to categorize words together.

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In kindergarten a concept map is not something you would expect a child to be able to do or understand but it would be something a teacher would model. Concept maps are a great way to organize thoughts/questions before an inquiry or after a book is read and information needs to be organized.

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More comprehension strategies

Why use a concept map?

It helps children organize new information.

It helps students to make meaningful connections between the main idea and other information.

They're easy to construct and can be used within any content area.

How to use a concept map

Note: It is important that teachers spend time introducing younger students to charts and diagrams prior to using this strategy.

There are several ways to construct concept maps. Most include the following steps:

1. Model how to identify the major ideas or concepts presented in a selection of text as you read.

2. Organize the ideas into categories. Remind students that your organization may change as you continue to read and add more information.

3. Use lines or arrows on the map to represent how ideas are connected to one another, a particular category, and/or the main concept. Limit the amount of information on the map to avoid frustration.

4. After students have finished the map, encourage them to share and reflect on how they each made the connections between concepts.

5. Encourage students to use the concept map to summarize what was read.

Download blank templates

Lesson plan

Concept Muraling: Organizing Knowledge Visually to Improve Comprehension

Help students develop a framework for organizing their knowledge of a content area text by providing visuals and key vocabulary words. See the lesson plan from the Balanced Literacy Diet.

See many more related how-to videos with lesson plans in the Reading Comprehension Strategies section.

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Concept Maps | Classroom Strategy | Reading Rockets

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A concept map is a visual organizer that can enrich students' understanding of a new concept. Using a graphic organizer, students think about the concept in several ways. Most concept map organizers engage students in answering questions such as, "What is it? What is it like? What are some examples?"

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Collecting words and placing them permanently on the wall after a shared reading experience helps draw attention to words that were read and highlighted that students may come across during independant reading.

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Elkonin Boxes: Help students with phonological awareness in segmenting words. Using Elkonin boxes works well in a small group setting such as guided reading. It allows the teacher to focus on a small group and assist those who might need more support.

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Elkonin Boxes: Help students with phonological awareness in segmenting words. Using Elkonin boxes works well in a small group setting such as guided reading. It allows the teacher to focus on a small group and assist those who might need more support.

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Elkonin Boxes | Classroom Strategies | Reading Rockets

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Writing Conferences: Even though this is connected to writer's workshop, this is best suited on an individual level. For independant reading, you can conference on their writing to respond to what they read. It would give a teacher a chance to assess comprehension. 

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Writing Conferences: Even though this is connected to writer's workshop, this is best suited on an individual level. For independant reading, you can conference on their writing to respond to what they read. It would give a teacher a chance to assess comprehension. 

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Rhyming Games: Finding words that rhyme or playing rhyming games with words found during a shared reading experience is a fun way to develop that skill. 

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Rhyming Games: Finding words that rhyme or playing rhyming games with words found during a shared reading experience is a fun way to develop that skill. 

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Bradley, L., & Bryant, P. (1985). Rhyme and reason in reading and spelling. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

Bryant, P., MacLean, M., & Bradley, L. (1990). Rhyme, language, and children's reading. Applied Psycholinguistics, 11, 237-252.

Moats, L. & Tolman, C. (2008). The Development of Phonological Skills.

Snow, C., Burns, M., & Griffin, P. (Eds.). (1998). Preventing reading difficulties in young children. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

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Rhyme is found in poetry, songs, and many children's books and games. Most children also love to sing and recite nursery rhymes. Words that can be grouped together by a common sound, for example the "-at" family - cat, hat, and sat - can be used to teach children about similar spellings.

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Blending and Segmenting Games: In kindergarten, this type of activity is best suited in a smaller group setting. It allows the teacher to support students that need it and to assess students as they play the game. 

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Blending and Segmenting Games: In kindergarten, this type of activity is best suited in a smaller group setting. It allows the teacher to support students that need it and to assess students as they play the game. 

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Blending and Segmenting Games | Classroom Strategy | Reading Rockets

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Children who can segment and blend sounds easily are able to use this knowledge when reading and spelling. Segmenting and blending individual sounds can be difficult at the beginning. Our recommendation is to begin with segmenting and blending syllables. Once familiar with that, students will be prepared for instruction and practice with individual sounds.

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Partner or Paired reading: this strategy places two students to read aloud to each other. 

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Partner or Paired reading: this strategy places two students to read aloud to each other. 

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It helps students work together.

It encourages cooperation and supports peer-assisted learning.

How to use paired reading

How to pair students

Pair students either by same reading ability or by high level readers with low level readers. Use the following steps to pair high-level readers with low-level readers:

List the students in order from highest to lowest according to reading ability

Divide the list in half

Place the top student in the first list with the top student in the second list

Continue until all students have been partnered

Be sensitive to pairings of students with special needs, including learning or emotional needs. Adjust pairings as necessary

The reader from the first list should read first while the reader from the second list listens and follows along

The second reader should pick up where the first reader stops. If additional practice is needed, the second reader can reread what the first reader read

Encourage pairs to ask each other about what was read. "What was your page about? What was your favorite part?"

Implementing the strategy

1. Introduce the students to the Paired Reading strategy. This includes:

Establishing a routine for students to adopt so that they know the step-by-step requirements for engaging in paired reading (i.e. Will they read out loud, simultaneously? Will they take turns with each person reading a paragraph? a page? Or will one person read while the other person listens?).

Teaching students an error-correction procedure to use when supporting each other's reading (i.e. re-reading misread words; signals for difficulty).

Modeling the procedure to ensure that students understand how to use the strategy.

2. Ask students to begin reading in pairs and adjust reading speed if reading simultaneously so they stay together.

3. Have students offer feedback and praise frequently for correct reading.

4. Monitor and support students as they work.

Download Strategies to Build Reading Fluency to learn more.

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It helps students work together. It encourages cooperation and supports peer-assisted learning. Pair students either by same reading ability or by high level readers with low level readers.

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Shared reading: Teacher models proficient reading skills by reading a big book or poetry that can be read over several times to focus on different reading or comprehension skills.

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Shared reading: Teacher models proficient reading skills by reading a big book or poetry that can be read over several times to focus on different reading or comprehension skills.

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It helps students work together.

It encourages cooperation and supports peer-assisted learning.

How to use paired reading

How to pair students

Pair students either by same reading ability or by high level readers with low level readers. Use the following steps to pair high-level readers with low-level readers:

List the students in order from highest to lowest according to reading ability

Divide the list in half

Place the top student in the first list with the top student in the second list

Continue until all students have been partnered

Be sensitive to pairings of students with special needs, including learning or emotional needs. Adjust pairings as necessary

The reader from the first list should read first while the reader from the second list listens and follows along

The second reader should pick up where the first reader stops. If additional practice is needed, the second reader can reread what the first reader read

Encourage pairs to ask each other about what was read. "What was your page about? What was your favorite part?"

Implementing the strategy

1. Introduce the students to the Paired Reading strategy. This includes:

Establishing a routine for students to adopt so that they know the step-by-step requirements for engaging in paired reading (i.e. Will they read out loud, simultaneously? Will they take turns with each person reading a paragraph? a page? Or will one person read while the other person listens?).

Teaching students an error-correction procedure to use when supporting each other's reading (i.e. re-reading misread words; signals for difficulty).

Modeling the procedure to ensure that students understand how to use the strategy.

2. Ask students to begin reading in pairs and adjust reading speed if reading simultaneously so they stay together.

3. Have students offer feedback and praise frequently for correct reading.

4. Monitor and support students as they work.

Download Strategies to Build Reading Fluency to learn more.

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It helps students work together. It encourages cooperation and supports peer-assisted learning. Pair students either by same reading ability or by high level readers with low level readers.

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Reader's Theatre: A strategy to help develop fluency skills where students practice re-reading the same text (dialogue) over and over.,

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Reader's Theatre: A strategy to help develop fluency skills where students practice re-reading the same text (dialogue) over and over.,

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Reader’s theater is a strategy for developing reading fluency. It involves children in oral reading through reading parts in scripts. In using this strategy, students do not need to memorize their part; they need only to reread it several times, thus developing their fluency skills. The best reader’…

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Audio Assisted reading: Students read along selected text while listening to a more fluent reader read. Can be on an audiotape, audiobook or ipad.

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Audio Assisted reading: Students read along selected text while listening to a more fluent reader read. Can be on an audiotape, audiobook or ipad.

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Armbruster,B., Lehr, F., & Osborn, J. (2001). Put Reading First: The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read. Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement (CIERA). http://www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading/publications/reading_first1fluency.html

Koskinen, P. S., Blum, I. H., Bisson, S. A., Phillips, S. M., Creamer, T. S., & Baker, T. K. (1999). Shared reading, books, and audiotapes: Supporting diverse students in school and at home. The Reading Teacher, 52, 430-444.

Texas Reading Initiative. (2007). Fluency: Instructional Guidelines and Student Activities.

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Audio-assisted reading is an individual or group reading activity where students read along in their books as they hear a fluent reader read the book on an audio recording (audiotape, audiobook, or mobile device). As confidence and reading skills develop, students read the same passage or text without the assistance of the audio recording.

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Choral Reading: A strategy where reading of a selected text is done aloud in unison. Helps build fluency. confidence and motivation.

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Choral Reading: A strategy where reading of a selected text is done aloud in unison. Helps build fluency. confidence and motivation.

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Language Arts

This planning checklist for a choral reading lesson uses the poem "One Sister for Sale" by Shel Silverstein. See example ›

This PDF includes dozens of poems for shared, choral, paired, and echo reading. See example ›

The website below offers teachers several poetry options conducive to the Choral Reading strategy along with some interesting tips on reading and language development. See example ›

The example of choral reading found on this site uses the children's book James and the Giant Peach. See example ›

Science

This lesson plan includes examples of choral reading activities that correspond to introductory science concepts. See example ›

Social Studies

This website includes a script for the choral reading of the children's book Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain. See example ›

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Choral reading is reading aloud in unison with a whole class or group of students. Choral reading helps build students' fluency, self-confidence, and motivation. Because students are reading aloud together, students who may ordinarily feel self-conscious or nervous about reading aloud have built-in support.

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Timed Repeated Readings: Students re-read a text or passage that they have read before at an independant level. Teacher times their reading to assess for a variety of reading skills such as fluency, comprehension or accuracy.

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Timed Repeated Readings: Students re-read a text or passage that they have read before at an independant level. Teacher times their reading to assess for a variety of reading skills such as fluency, comprehension or accuracy.

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Timed Repeated Readings | Classroom Strategy | Reading Rockets

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Timed repeated readings are an instructional practice for monitoring students' fluency development. Repeated readings, under timed conditions, of familiar instructional level text can increase students' reading speed which can improve comprehension.

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Listen-Read-Discuss: the strategy oultine on the website appears to be geared to older readers, this strategy can be used with younger learners by listening to the teacher introduce the book, reading the book and then discussing about what was read as a whole class. Helps develop oral language skills. 

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Listen-Read-Discuss: the strategy oultine on the website appears to be geared to older readers, this strategy can be used with younger learners by listening to the teacher introduce the book, reading the book and then discussing about what was read as a whole class. Helps develop oral language skills. 

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The listen-read-discuss strategy helps students comprehend text. Before reading, students listen to a short lecture delivered by the teacher. The students then read a text selection about the topic. After reading, there is a large group discussion or students engage in small group discussions about the topic. During the discussion, students compare and contrast the information from the lecture with the information they read.

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Listen-Read-Discuss (LRD) | Classroom Strategy | Reading Rockets

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The listen-read-discuss strategy helps students comprehend text. Before reading, students listen to a short lecture delivered by the teacher. The students then read a text selection about the topic. After reading, there is a large group discussion or students engage in small group discussions about the topic.

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A series of statements about a text that can be read orally or displayed for group to see during Shared Reading to get students thinking about a text and accessing prior knowledge.

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Anticipation Guide | Classroom Strategy | Reading Rockets

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An anticipation guide is a comprehension strategy that is used before reading to activate students’ prior knowledge and build curiosity about a new topic. Before reading, students listen to or read several statements about key concepts presented in the text; they’re often structured as a series of s…

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Choosing a book for a small group of students based on a specific phonics feature they need instruction in.

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There are several ways to match books to readers - by reader interest, by reading level, and by the phonics feature(s) a particular child is learning. Careful pairing of reading with phonics study gives children a chance to apply what they are learning about letters and sounds to the reading of words and stories. Because the goal of phonics instruction is to help children use the alphabetic system to read and spell words, it's important to provide students with this practice.

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Matching Books to Phonics Features | Classroom Strategy | Reading Rockets

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There are several ways to match books to readers - by reader interest, by reading level, and by the phonics feature(s) a particular child is learning. Careful pairing of reading with phonics study gives children a chance to apply what they are learning about letters and sounds to the reading of words and stories.

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Provides students with opportunities to think about what they will read, ask questions, make predictions and then read to confirm what they have read.

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Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) | Classroom Strategy | Reading Rockets

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The Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) is a comprehension strategy that guides students in asking questions about a text, making predictions, and then reading to confirm or refute their predictions. The DRTA process encourages students to be active and thoughtful readers, enhancing their comprehension.

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Provides students with opportunities to think about what they will read, ask questions, make predictions and then read to confirm what they have read. (can also be used in whole group and individual settings)

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Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) | Classroom Strategy | Reading Rockets

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The Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) is a comprehension strategy that guides students in asking questions about a text, making predictions, and then reading to confirm or refute their predictions. The DRTA process encourages students to be active and thoughtful readers, enhancing their comprehension.

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Teacher creates a list of prompts for students to use to guide their comprehension as they read a text.

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It can be developed for a variety of reading material and reading levels.

It helps guide students through what they are about to read, and helps students monitor their comprehension while reading.

It helps students to follow the main points of the reading and understand the organization of a text.

It helps readers to think actively as they read and have a purpose for reading.

How to use reading guides

1. The teacher determines the major ideas from a book or an assigned reading and considers each student's knowledge related to the concepts.

2. Teachers then write questions or statements designed to guide readers through the major ideas and supporting details of the text. Guides may be phrased as statements or as questions.

3. Teachers begin the procedure by introducing the assigned book, discussing the main ideas, and new vocabulary.

4. Teachers then discuss the statements or ask the questions on the Reading Guide.

5. Teachers may read the selection aloud or students read the assigned text as teachers monitor reading.

6. Teachers and students work together to respond to statements or questions on the reading guides during the reading process. Teachers should monitor and support students as they work.

Note: As students gain proficiency at completing reading guides, they may design their own guides and provide support for one another.

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Reading Guide | Classroom Strategy | Reading Rockets

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Reading guides can assist with developing students' comprehension. They help students navigate reading material, especially difficult chapters or nonfiction reading. Students respond to a teacher-created written guide of prompts as they read an assigned text. Reading Guides help students to comprehend the main points of the reading and understand the organizational structure of a text.

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A way of comparing and contrasting texts using a teacher-created chart. For example, students can compare two different versions of a fairy tale using a chart like this.

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A Semantic Feature Analysis improves students' comprehension, vocabulary, and content retention. This strategy helps students to examine related features or concepts and make distinctions among them. By analyzing the completed matrix, students are able to visualize connections, make predictions, and better understand important concepts.

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While listening to and reading text, students make a mental picture. Can be discussed in a think-pair-share format afterwards. Works well with poetry in shared reading settings as well.

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Generating an image while reading requires that the reader be actively engaged with the text.

Creating mental images while reading can improve comprehension.

How to use visual imagery

Follow these few simple steps to provide practice developing students' mental images:

Begin reading. Pause after a few sentences or paragraphs that contain good descriptive information.

Share the image you've created in your mind, and talk about which words from the book helped you "draw" your picture. Your picture can relate to the setting, the characters, or the actions. By doing this, you are modeling the kind of picture making you want your child to do.

Talk about how these pictures help you understand what's happening in the story.

Continue reading. Pause again and share the new image you created. Then ask your child to share what he sees, hears, tastes, smells and feels. Ask what words helped him create the mental image and emotions. By doing this, you are providing your child with practice with this new skill.

Are your images identical? Probably not! This is a great time to talk about why your images might be different. Perhaps your child went on a school field trip or had a school assembly that changed the way they created the picture in their mind. Perhaps experiences you've had as an adult influenced what you "drew." These differences are important to understand and respect.

Read a longer portion of text and continue the sharing process.

Once this is a familiar skill, encourage your child to use mental imagery when she is reading by herself. You can feel confident that these mental pictures will help your child understand the story in an important way.

Resources

Into the Book: lesson plans that help students learn to visualize:

Article from Reading Rockets:

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Visual Imagery | Classroom Strategy | Reading Rockets

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Generating an image while reading requires that the reader be actively engaged with the text. Creating mental images while reading can improve comprehension. Follow these few simple steps to provide practice developing students' mental images: Begin reading. Pause after a few sentences or paragraphs that contain good descriptive information.

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Teacher pre-writes out important vocabulary words from text students will read. In small groups, students choose words that are related and write down their pairings. They then write out sentences they might find in the text using the word pairings they've created.

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Possible sentences is a pre-reading vocabulary strategy that activates students' prior knowledge about content area vocabulary and concepts. Before reading, students are provided a short list of vocabulary words from their reading. Students create, based on their prediction of what the reading will be about, a meaningful sentence for each vocabulary word or concept. After reading, students check to see if their "possible sentences" were accurate or need revising.

Language Arts

This example shows how Possible Sentences can be used with the book Rechenka's Eggs by Patricia Polacco.
See example >
Math

Teachers can use Possible Sentences to help students understand difficult math vocabulary such as in the following example about geometric shapes.
See example >
Science

The following website shows examples of using computer related vocabulary words to create possible sentences.

Have students use this list to develop sentences about various animals and use books to determine the accuracy of their sentences.
See example >
Moore, D.W., & Moore, S.A (1986). "Possible sentences." In Reading in the content areas: Improving classroom instruction. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.

Stahl, S.A. & Kapinus, B.A. (1991). Possible sentences: Predicting word meaning to teach content area vocabulary. The Reading Teacher, 45, 36-45.

Texas Education Agency (2002). Teaching Word Meanings as Concepts.

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Possible Sentences | Classroom Strategy | Reading Rockets

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Possible sentences is a pre-reading vocabulary strategy that activates students' prior knowledge about content area vocabulary and concepts. Before reading, students are provided a short list of vocabulary words from their reading. Students create, based on their prediction of what the reading will be about, a meaningful sentence for each vocabulary word or concept.

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Teacher creates a continuum with opposite words on each end. Students work to fill in the continuum with words that bridge between the two extremes.

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Helps broaden and deepen students' understanding of related words

Helps students distinguish between shades of meaning

Enhances students' vocabulary, which can help them be more precise and imaginative in their writing

How to use semantic gradients

1. Select a pair of polar opposite words.

2. Generate at least five synonyms for each of the opposite words.

3. Arrange the words in a way that makes a bridge from one opposite word to the other. Continuums can be done horizontal or vertical, in a ladder-like fashion.

4. Have students discuss their rationale for placing certain words in certain locations. Encourage a conversation about the subtle differences among the words.

OR

1. Select a specific vocabulary word, e.g., large.

2. Using a book you've read, a unit of study, or different writing samples, create a list of semantically similar words. The teacher can develop the list, or work collaboratively with students to generate a list. It may work best to think of your target word as being in the center of your continuum.

3. Arrange the words in a way that illustrates an understanding of each word's meaning. Continuums can be done horizontal or vertical, in a ladder like fashion.

4. Have students discuss their rationale for placing certain words in certain locations. Encourage a conversation about the subtle differences among the words.

Download this semantic gradients handout, with examples of topics or themes and words that relate to that topic.

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Semantic Gradients | Classroom Strategy | Reading Rockets

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Semantic gradients are a way to broaden and deepen students' understanding of related words. Students consider a continuum of words by order of degree. Semantic gradients often begin with antonyms, or opposites, at each end of the continuum. This strategy helps students distinguish between shades of meaning.

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Teaching students to chunk out words and divide words into parts. There are a number of games that can bet used to teach this including the clapping game, where students clap out the number of syllables they hear.

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As students progress in their literacy understanding, they move from reading and writing single syllable words (often with consonant-vowel-consonant constructions) to reading and writing multisyllabic words. Instruction focused on teaching students about syllables often focuses on teaching different types of syllables (open and closed) and what occurs when syllables join together within a word.

Marker activity

This activity, from our article How Now Brown Cow: Phoneme Awareness Activities, is an example of how to teach students to use a marker (i.e., token) to count syllables.

The marker activity often used for word counting can be adapted for use in counting syllables. Teachers can provide each child with tokens and two or three horizontally connected boxes drawn on a sheet of paper. The children place a token in each box from left to right as they hear each syllable in a word.

Multisyllabic manipulation

This example includes several activities and a chart of multisyllabic words. One specific activity from this page is the Multisyllabic Words Manipulation Game. Teachers can divide words from reading selections into syllables, write each syllable on a note card and display the syllables in jumbled order. Have students arrange the syllables to form the words.
Multisyllabic words manipulation >
Clapping games

Associating syllables with a beat can help students to better learn the concept of syllables within words. Here's a clapping game to help young learners understand about dividing words into syllables.
Basic words clapping game >
Using mirrors

The following link includes information on introductory activities such as using mirrors for teaching students about syllables. Information is also provided about the different syllable spelling patterns.
Using a mirror to understand syllables >
Jumping syllables

This activity teaches student to separate words into syllables. Students move syllables around to create new "silly" words which gives them practice manipulating different sounds.
Jumping syllables >
Find many more syllable activities developed by the Florida Center for Reading Research.

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Syllable Games | Classroom Strategy | Reading Rockets

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As students progress in their literacy understanding, they move from reading and writing single syllable words (often with consonant-vowel-consonant constructions) to reading and writing multisyllabic words. Instruction focused on teaching students about syllables often focuses on teaching different types of syllables (open and closed) and what occurs when syllables join together within a word.

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The onset is the first phoneme in a word and rime is the string of letters after it. Teaching students to identify the first sound and then to identify the sounds or letters following it help students learn about word families

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The "onset" is the initial phonological unit of any word (e.g. c in cat) and the term "rime" refers to the string of letters that follow, usually a vowel and final consonants (e.g. at in cat). Not all words have onsets. Similar to teaching beginning readers about rhyme, teaching children about onset and rime helps them recognize common chunks within words. This can help students decode new words when reading and spell words when writing.

From the Florida Center for Reading Research, download and print these activities:

These articles offer suggestions for how to use simple onset and rime activities to help students develop phonological awareness.

Construct-a-word: "ig" in Pig. The link below outlines a strategy that can be adapted to teach different onset and rime word patterns. This activity helps teachers isolate and teach the rime "ig" using the book If you Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff. There is an instructional plan that accompanies the activity and extension ideas included to advance the learning process.
See example >

Download blank templates

See the link below for more help building word families using onset and rimes.

Bear, D., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F. (1996). Words their way: Word study for phonics, vocabulary, and spelling instruction. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Chard, D., & Dickson, S. (1999). Phonological Awareness: Instructional and Assessment Guidelines.

Ellis, E. (1997). How Now Brown Cow: Phoneme Awareness Activities.

Goswami, U., & Mead, F. (1992). Onset and rime awareness and analogies in reading. Reading Research Quarterly, 2, 153-162.

Wise, B. W., Olson, R. K., & Treiman, R. (1990). Subsyllabic units as aids in beginning readers word learning Onset-rime versus post-vowel segmentation. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 4, 1-19.

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The "onset" is the initial phonological unit of any word (e.g. c in cat) and the term "rime" refers to the string of letters that follow, usually a vowel and final consonants (e.g. at in cat). Not all words have onsets.

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Students are presented with a question or a problem and are invited to think of an answer, then turn to the person next to them and share their answer. This creates a deeper comprehension of what is being read.

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Think-pair-share (TPS) is a collaborative learning strategy where students work together to solve a problem or answer a question about an assigned reading. This strategy requires students to (1) think individually about a topic or answer to a question; and (2) share ideas with classmates. Discussing with a partner maximizes participation, focuses attention and engages students in comprehending the reading material.

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Think-Pair-Share | Classroom Strategy | Reading Rockets

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Think-pair-share (TPS) is a collaborative learning strategy where students work together to solve a problem or answer a question about an assigned reading. This strategy requires students to (1) think individually about a topic or answer to a question; and (2) share ideas with classmates.

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Teachers verbalize their thinking while they are reading a story. They verbalize the things they are doing that help them comprehend the text. This models how to monitor their thinking while they read.

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This helps teach students to determine essential ideas and focus on key words and phrases.

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Summarizing teaches students how to discern the most important ideas in a text, how to ignore irrelevant information, and how to integrate the central ideas in a meaningful way. Teaching students to summarize improves their memory for what is read. Summarization strategies can be used in almost every content area.

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Summarizing teaches students how to discern the most important ideas in a text, how to ignore irrelevant information, and how to integrate the central ideas in a meaningful way. Teaching students to summarize improves their memory for what is read. Summarization strategies can be used in almost every content area.

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Students can identify the beginning, middle, and end of a story and put them into order. Lots of fun activities can be done with this including using puppets or using felt pieces to retell the story.

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Language Arts

Story maps provide one way to help students organize the events from a story.

Helping students learn transition or signal words that indicate a sequence (first, second, last) will also help them learn about sequence.

Sequence sticks, story chains, story retelling ropes, and story sequence crafts all help students practice ordering events within a story. See these resources for ideas:

Math

Most math curricula include worksheets on ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc). Patterns are also a form of sequencing my encouraging the use of vocabulary words such as "What bead goes first? Then which bead? Which bead is third?" Encouraging students to write out the steps for solving addition and subtraction problems that include regrouping is an excellent way to have them think through the steps in order. Teachers can use a simple sheet of paper folded into four squares. Ask students to write the steps in order in the squares.

Science

Helping children sequence also develops their scientific inquiry skills. In order to study or observe changes in something, students must follow along and record changes. The changes happen in a particular order, which kids can document by writing or drawing pictures.

Social Studies

Timelines are a great way to teach sequence in social studies. Kids may enjoy making a timeline of their own life, and include important milestones such as when they learned to walk, talk, ride a bike and go to school. Once students understand the process of charting important milestones on a timeline, topics from the social studies curricula can be used.

This simple example of an explorers timeline illustrates how the spacing between dates indicates the passage of time.

Other ideas for sequencing

Arts & crafts activities. It may be desirable to consider quilt-making and/or other arts & crafts activities with children. This and other arts and craft activities may reinforce the idea of sequencing and may introduce math concepts (measurement, addition & subtraction and basic computation, etc). Alex Henderson's Kids Start Quilting with Alex Anderson: 7 Fun & Easy Projects Quilts for Kids by Kids, Tips for Quilting with Children provides easy instructions for adults quilting with children.

Cooking with kids. Cookbooks for children can reinforce stories read, math concepts (measurement, etc), as well as sequencing. The Little House Cookbook: Frontier Foods from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Classic Stories by Barbara Walker (HarperCollins; 0064460908) presents recipes for foods mentioned in the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Wordless books. There are many wordless books that can be used with younger children and with English language learners (or students who may have limited English proficiency). For younger children, Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie dePaola humorously details a woman making pancakes from scratch or the wordless adventures of Mark Newgarden's a small dog named Bow-Wow (e.g., Bow-Wow Bugs a Bug). For older or more sophisticated readers, books by Barbara Lehmann and David Weisner may be considered.

Everyday activities. Create a sequence page for a simple activity around the house or at school. Use any blank sheet of paper. Fold the paper into squares. Start with 4 large squares, for older students create more squares. Ask kids to draw the steps they know in the order in which the steps occur. For example, draw each step it takes to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or to brush their teeth.

Calendar time. Cut or tear out the pages from an old calendar. Mix up the months and hand out the stack of pages. Ask the kids to order the months from January to December by laying the pages out on the floor. Which month goes first? Then which one? Which month is last?

Download blank templates

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Story Sequence | Classroom Strategy | Reading Rockets

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Sequencing is one of many skills that contributes to students' ability to comprehend what they read. Sequencing refers to the identification of the components of a story - the beginning, middle, and end - and also to the ability to retell the events within a given text in the order in which they occurred.

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Students are first taught how to summarize, question, predict, and clarify. Then they lead the discussion about what has been read.

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Reciprocal Teaching | Classroom Strategy | Reading Rockets

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Reciprocal teaching refers to an instructional activity in which students become the teacher in small group reading sessions. Teachers model, then help students learn to guide group discussions using four strategies: summarizing, question generating, clarifying, and predicting. Once students have learned the strategies, they take turns assuming the role of teacher in leading a dialogue about what has been read.

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Students hear the first line of a book and then make predictions about the book.

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First Lines is a pre-reading comprehension strategy in which students read the beginning sentences from a book and then make predictions about that book. This technique helps students focus their attention on what they can tell from the first lines of a story, play, poem, or other text. As students read the text in its entirety they discuss, revisit and/or revise their original predictions.

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First Lines | Classroom Strategy | Reading Rockets

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First Lines is a pre-reading comprehension strategy in which students read the beginning sentences from a book and then make predictions about that book. This technique helps students focus their attention on what they can tell from the first lines of a story, play, poem, or other text.

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Students can be provided with a summarizing template that they can use as they read. Summarizing helps them focus on the essential ideas and themes of a text and develop a more concise understanding.

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Summarizing teaches students how to discern the most important ideas in a text, how to ignore irrelevant information, and how to integrate the central ideas in a meaningful way. Teaching students to summarize improves their memory for what is read. Summarization strategies can be used in almost every content area.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Summarizing teaches students how to discern the most important ideas in a text, how to ignore irrelevant information, and how to integrate the central ideas in a meaningful way. Teaching students to summarize improves their memory for what is read. Summarization strategies can be used in almost every content area.