Snowman Sequencing

Over the winter break, I had a fantastic time playing outside with my kids.  Of course, a teacher's mind is always thinking of new works for the classroom.  One day, the girls and I were building a snowman and I realized that was the first time G ever built a snowman.  She really didn't understand the steps needed in order to build it.  It hit me that this is like a sequencing activity.  So......I pulled out the camera and snapped a shot of each step we took to complete the snowman (actually she became a snowgirl).  I laminated the pictures and incorporated them into the classroom as a sequencing activity. 

Sequencing is an essential pre-reading skill for preschoolers.  Sequencing is the ability to put the events of a story in the order in which they occurred. Teaching sequencing to young children is important because logical order of thinking is fundamental to reading and everyday life.  There are many ways you can incorporate sequencing into your daily activities at home.  After reading a story, discuss what happened in the beginning, middle and end.  You can draw pictures of some of the events that happened in a story.  Mix them up and see if your child can put them back in order.  Take pictures of your child getting ready for school.  Print them, laminate, and use them as sequencing cards.  I always put numbers on the back of my sequencing cards as a self-checking device.  Typically, anywhere from 4-8 steps are sufficient for a preschooler.