Sequencing The Mitten

Subjects

• Language Arts

Grades

• K_2
  

Brief Description

This differentiated lesson teaches provides a hands-on lesson for teaching sequencing using a popular children’s book, "The Mitten" by Jan Brett.

Objectives

Students will

• understand that sequencing means remembering directions or the events of a story from the beginning to the end.
• understand why sequencing is important in everyday life.
• sequence events or directions, either by using pictures or with written words.

Keywords

sequencing, literature, differentiation

Materials Needed

• The Mitten, by Jan Brett.
• pictures of the animals and a cut-out paper mitten
• copies of pictures from the story and writing paper
• large piece of construction paper, markers, pencils, pictures of the animals, a sample board game with directions

The Lesson

Before the Lesson
I gave students a written pre-assessment on sequencing skills. All students were given the easiest level worksheet first. If they sequenced correctly, they moved to the middle level sequencing worksheet. If that sheet was sequenced correctly, students were given the more challenging worksheet to sequence. Three differentiated groups were formed based on students' performance on the pre-assessment.

The Activity
Begin the lesson by reading aloud the story The Mitten by Jan Brett.

After reading, draw a large mitten on the chart paper. Challenge students to recall the order in which the animals appeared in the story. Write the names of the animals on the mitten, in sequence, for children to see.

Introduce to students the term sequencing. Explain to students that they have listed the order, or sequence, in which the animals appeared in the story. Explain that by doing that they have "put the story back together in the right order from the beginning to the end." They will need to remember the order of the story to do their group activity.

As a class, have students practice another sequencing activity. Give an everyday example of something they do in which sequencing is important. For example, brushing their teeth. Ask students to tell the order in which they do things as they brush their teeth. Write each step on a sentence strip.

You might have already prepared sentence strips for this activity that include the following steps:
--- Unscrew the cap from the tube of toothpaste.
--- Spread toothpaste on the toothbrush.
--- Run the toothpaste and toothbrush under the water.
--- Brush all your teeth.
--- Rinse your mouth.
--- Put your toothbrush and the toothpaste back in their places.

Then mix up the sentence strips and have students re-assemble the strips in the correct order.

Arrange students into their three differentiated groups based on the pre-assessment to do one of the following activities.

Group 1 -- students who had no or little understanding of sequencing.
Provide pictures of the animals from the story and a large mitten. Students will put the pictures of the animals in the order in which those animals appeared in the story. They must write the animals' names in correct order on the mitten and write a sentence about their favorite animal below the mitten.

Group 2 -- students who had a fair understanding of sequencing.
Provide copies of pictures from the story. Each picture has a space below it where students can write a sentence about what is happening in that picture. Students assemble the pictures in the correct order from beginning to end. When they have completed this activity, staple their pictures together to make a small booklet.

Group 3 -- students who had a good understanding of sequencing skills.
Students in this group will use sequencing skills to create a board game complete with step-by-step directions. Their game must relate to the story; they might make a game about the story, or the game might be about the animals in the story or about winter. Students will need to write step-by-step directions for the use of the game. (The lesson period will provide time for students to draft the game and its directions. You will need to give students time on another day to finish creating the game.)

Assessment

Students will be informally evaluated during the guided practice part of the lesson. The work that is completed by the students during activity time will be used to determine which students understand the concept of sequencing. A homework assignment and other lessons will follow to reinforce sequencing skills.

Submitted By

Nicole Tyminski,, McKinley Elementary School in Westfield, New Jersey

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