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Description:
The students will take information from the text and develop questions about the story and why they think the author did certain things.
Advantages:

The students will analyze the story

The students will develop critical thinking skills

Disadvantages:

Students may not be interested in the story

They may not think of critical questions to ask

ELLs:
I will provide Google Translate for the student so that they will be able to read the story and follow along.

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Questioning the author is a strategy that engages students actively with a text. Rather than reading and taking information from a text, the QtA strategy encourages students to ask questions of the author and the text. Through forming their questions, students learn more about the text. Students learn to ask questions such as: What is the author's message? Does the author explain this clearly? How does this connect to what the author said earlier?

This website shows and example of using the question the author strategy with a common health-related sign that might be read by students.
See example >
Language Arts

Here's a simple, clear description of how students can learn to think, "If I were the author..."
See example >
Social Studies

Here's a short paper that describes how teachers can use the question the author strategy to help students make sense of social studies. Examples are given for elementary age students.

Beck, I.L., & McKeown, M.G., Hamilton, R.L., & Kugan, L. (1997). Questioning the author: An approach for enhancing student engagement with text. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

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Question the Author | Classroom Strategy | Reading Rockets

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Questioning the author is a strategy that engages students actively with a text. Rather than reading and taking information from a text, the QtA strategy encourages students to ask questions of the author and the text. Through forming their questions, students learn more about the text.

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Description:
Students will be able to differentiate the different parts of a story.
Advantages:

Students will be able to tell the different parts of a story

Students will learn new words

Students will improve their comprehension

Disadvantages:

Students may not be interested in the story

Students may not learn new words

ELLs:
I will provide Google Translate for the student so that they will be able to learn the new words and understand what the story says.

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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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Description:
The students will describe nouns based on how they are imaging it in their minds. Students will know how to write more descriptively.
Advantages:

Students will learn how to write descriptions

Students will be more interested in writing

Students may learn new words

Disadvantages:

Students may not be interested in what they are writing

May not learn new words

ELLs:
I will provide Google Translate for the student to translate the new words.

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It will help your students' writing be more interesting and full of details

It encourages students to use new vocabulary words

It can help students clarify their understanding of new subject matter material

How to teach descriptive writing

There's no one way to teach descriptive writing. That said, teachers can:

Develop descriptive writing skill through modeling and the sharing of quality literature full of descriptive writing.

Include lessons such as the ones listed below throughout the year.

Call students' attention to interesting, descriptive word choices in classroom writing.

Characteristics of descriptive writing

1. Good descriptive writing includes many vivid sensory details that paint a picture and appeals to all of the reader's senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste when appropriate. Descriptive writing may also paint pictures of the feelings the person, place or thing invokes in the writer. In the video section below, watch a teacher use a Five Senses Graphic Organizer as a planning strategy for descriptive writing.

2. Good descriptive writing often makes use of figurative language such as analogies, similes and metaphors to help paint the picture in the reader's mind.

3. Good descriptive writing uses precise language. General adjectives, nouns, and passive verbs do not have a place in good descriptive writing. Use specific adjectives and nouns and strong action verbs to give life to the picture you are painting in the reader's mind.

4. Good descriptive writing is organized. Some ways to organize descriptive writing include: chronological (time), spatial (location), and order of importance. When describing a person, you might begin with a physical description, followed by how that person thinks, feels and acts.

Language Arts

The Show-Me Sentences lesson plan from Read Write Think was created for students in grades 6-12. However, elementary teachers can modify the Show-Me sentences to make them interesting for younger students.

The Writing Fix provides a lesson plan for using Roald Dahl's The Twits as a mentor text to teach descriptive writing.

Teacher Laura Torres created a lesson plan that uses images to jumpstart vivid writing: Three Descriptive Writing Picture Prompts.

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Descriptive Writing | Classroom Strategy | Reading Rockets

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The primary purpose of descriptive writing is to describe a person, place or thing in such a way that a picture is formed in the reader's mind. Capturing an event through descriptive writing involves paying close attention to the details by using all of your five senses.

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Description:
Students read along with the story in their books.  They are able to hear how each word is pronounced, in case they do not know a certain word.
Advantages:

Helps build fluency and speed when reading

Builds comprehension

Can be used in different subjects

Disadvantages:

Students may not follow along with the book

May not be interested

ELLs:
I will provide a tape that has the book read in the students native language.

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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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Description:
Students will be able to construct different images in their mind of the book, as they read.
Advantages:

Students will be able to use their background knowledge

Use previous experience

Improve comprehension

Disadvantages:

Students may not participate

Students may not be interested in the reading

ELLs:
I will provide a copy of the book in that students language.

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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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Blending and Segmenting Games by Ms. Delapp

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Blending and Segmenting Games by Ms. Delapp

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Description:
This strategy is to be used during the lesson or during reading time.  The students will sound out words and then say the sounds to read the word.
Advantages:

The students will know the different sounds each word makes.

They will be able to sound out each word

Disadvantages:

Some students may not know how to sound each some words

Some students may sound them out incorrectly

ELLs:
I will go around and help the students who do not understand.  I will print out words that are in their language underneath the word in English.

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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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Description:
The students will be able to develop fluency and speed while reading.  The students will read the words, by reading part of a script.  The script will have different words in it, that are a part of their vocabulary for the week.
Advantages:

The students will be able to build their fluency and speed

The students will be feel more confident in their reading skills

Students will also be able to improve their reading by reading aloud

Disadvantages:

Students may not feel comfortable speaking aloud in front of their peers

Students may not improve their reading

ELLs:
I will print the script in the students native language to help them understand what we are reading.

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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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Description:
This game is to be used before the lesson or before reading time.  In this game, the students will divide each word into chunks.  This will help their process of decoding each word and its sound.
Advantages:

This will help the students spell out the word

It will help them with their fluency and speed

Disadvantages:

Students may not pronounce the word correctly

ELLs:
I will have each word written down in English and their language. I will go around and help them with each word to make sure that they understand are pronouncing the word correctly.

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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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Description:
Elkonin Boxes help students separate the word into individual sounds.  The student will listen to the word and put however many tokens on the correct number of boxes, based on the number of sounds in the word.
Advantages:

Students will hear the different sounds

Students will be able to split the word up into however many sounds it makes

Disadvantages:

Students may make a mistake and think that a word has more sounds than it does

ELLs:
I will put the English word on the students desk, but underneath I will put the word in their language.

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Elkonin Boxes | Classroom Strategies | Reading Rockets

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Description:
Exit slips are to be used after a lesson. Students will be able to reflect on what they learned throughout that certain lesson.
Advantages:

Students will be able to think about what they learned.

They will have to reflect on their thoughts during the lesson.

Disadvantages:

Students may not feel confident in their answer, so they may just put one word answers.

ELLs:
I will model how to complete an exit slip.  I will also provide an example of what to put on it, in order for all of my students to understand.  If I have a student who does not understand, I will sit down with them and explain it.

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Exit Slips | Classroom Strategy | Reading Rockets

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Exit slips are written student responses to questions teachers pose at the end of a class or lesson. These quick, informal assessments enable teachers to quickly assess students’ understanding of the material.

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Description:
Concept Sorts help students learn new material related to vocabulary.  This helps students learn the meanings of the words and to use those meanings in a different context.

Advantages:

Students benefit from this, by learning difficult words

Benefits ELL's

Disadvantages:

Students may not benefit from this if they do not understand the word

http://www.adlit.org/strategies/21829/

Tompkins, Gail E. (2013) 396-397 Literacy Strategies, Boston, MA: Pearson.

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Description:
A Frayer Model is basically a graphic organizer.  Students will be able to improve their vocabulary by using this model.  The students will also be able to provide examples or non-examples of their vocabulary and their meanings.

Advantages:

Students will be able to use their knowledge to provide examples of their vocabulary

Frayer Model is versatile, it can be used for group work or individual work

Activates student's prior knowledge and allows them to use that to work on their model

Good for students who learn visually

Disadvantages:

Will not help students who are not visual learners

http://www.adlit.org/strategies/22369/

Tompkins, Gail E. (2013) 396-397 Literacy Strategies, Boston, MA: Pearson.

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Description:
Students teach the students.  The teacher-student role is switched.  The students lead the discussion in the class instead of the teacher.  Reciprocal Teaching, include four different strategies that the students are able to follow when leading the discussions.  They include, predicting, question, generating, and summarizing and clarifying.

Advantages:

Teach students how to lead discussions

Allow students to learn how to take control of the class

Students develop ideas and/or questions to ask the class

Disadvantages:

Students may be nervous to speak in front of their classmates

Students may not know how to answer the questions

http://www.adlit.org/strategies/19765/

Tompkins, Gail E. (2013) 396-397 Literacy Strategies, Boston, MA: Pearson.

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Description:
Students are able build a story off of the story structure.  They are able to build their comprehension by using techniques to deepen their knowledge on the different parts of a story.

Advantages:

Students deepen their knowledge of the different parts of a story

Students work with others to develop different ideas about the topics

Disadvantages:

Students may not know how to develop different ideas

Students may not feel comfortable sharing their ideas

http://www.adlit.org/strategies/22736/

Tompkins, Gail E. (2013) 396-397 Literacy Strategies, Boston, MA: Pearson.

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Description:
Students are able to pair up and think together by making decisions about their topic.  The students think about the topic by themselves, and then pair up with others.  Then, they share with the class about their thoughts.

Advantages:

Students are able to deepen their thoughts on the topic

Students are able to share their thoughts with the class

Disadvantages:

Students may not feel confident in their answers

Students may not understand the topic or have an answer

http://www.adlit.org/strategies/23277/

Tompkins, Gail E. (2013) 396-397 Literacy Strategies, Boston, MA: Pearson.

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Description:
Vocabulary strategy that helps students engage in the learning process of vocabulary.  Students are able to compare and contrast the different words that they hear.  The students look at the words and try to find a word with similar meaning.  Then, they label them based on their meaning.

Advantages:

Students are able to identify the meaning of the words

Students are able to explain vocabulary

Disadvantages:

Students may not understand the meanings

Students may not understand the concept

http://www.adlit.org/strategies/19780/

Tompkins, Gail E. (2013) 396-397 Literacy Strategies, Boston, MA: Pearson.

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Description:
Students are paired up together and read.  They are divided based on their reading levels or they could include more or less fluent readers.  They each take turns reading aloud.  After students read to each other, they both share their thoughts on their readings and what it was about.

Advantages:

Helps students improve their reading skills

Provide and are provided feedback on their reading

Able to discuss what they read and think deeply about what they read

Disadvantages:

If students are paired with others who are not the same reading level, it may not help them

Students may not feel comfortable about reading in front of people

http://www.adlit.org/strategies/23354/

Tompkins, Gail E. (2013) 396-397 Literacy Strategies, Boston, MA: Pearson.

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Description:
Helps students see comparisons and differences between their work when they work on main idea or other works.  Another idea for a concept map is to use words or phrases as an example for negotiate the meaning or the concept of the words or phrases.

Advantages:

Helps struggling readers

Help students reflect on their prior knowledge

Uses main idea to connect their experiences or what they are learning to the real world

Disadvantages:

May be not advanced enough for advanced readers

May not help struggling readers

Tompkins, Gail E. (2013) 396-397 Literacy Strategies, Boston, MA: Pearson.

http://www.adlit.org/strategies/19769/

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Description:

Words are posted around the room on post-it notes.  The words are
pulled from stories or important ideas that the children have.  The children use the words for activities or assignments that they work on throughout the day.

Advantages:

-Organized way of displaying the words for the children.

-Beneficial for visual learners.

-Easy for the children to look up and see what is on the post-it notes when they are working.

Disadvantages:

-Not beneficial to hands on learners.

Tompkins, Gail E. (2013) 396-397 Literacy Strategies, Boston, MA: Pearson.

http://lifeinfirstgrade1.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-we-use-our-word-wall.html

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Description:
Children read a story and then they go around the room share their thoughts or ideas about the character/story.  The students are able to build on their word comprehension with the hot seat activity.

Advantages:
-Helps students understand the story better.
-Helps students broaden their perspective of the story and characters.

Disadvantages:
-Students may be afraid to talk out loud, because they may be embarrassed of their answers.
-Students may not want to share, so not everyone will participate.

http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/04/lp328-04.shtml

Hot Tompkins, Gail E. (2013) 372 Literacy Strategies, Boston, MA: Pearson.