By Joe Deaton, Bluegrass Learning Services
Tuesday, January 20th, 2015 10:00 AM CST
The following article is excerpted from the soon to be released online course “Preparing your Child for School.” The class is an on-demand video course developed by Bluegrass Learning and is scheduled for release on February 15th, 2015. The course is designed to help parents of children from birth through 5 years of age help prepare their children for school.
Bluegrass Learning is providing free access to the entire class (24 video lessons) to the first 100 readers of Buy Local Bowling Green who request access. To request your coupon code for free online course registration, send an email to info@bluegrasslearning.com and let us know you would like to enroll in the class. When the course is released, we’ll email a coupon code to the first 100 people who respond.
Lesson 4- Sequencing Stories
Have you ever heard an excited young child tell you about their day? Did it sound something like this?
“We went to see grandma, then we baked cookies, then I wore my red shoes and then we dropped off Amy at school, then I took a nap, then we had cereal for breakfast.”
While it sounds very exciting, that’s a series of events which are obviously out of order. The purpose of this lesson is provide you with some activities you can do at home to help your child improve their ability to sequence events and make predictions.
Your child’s ability to sequence events in a logical order is a foundational skill that is extremely important to their future development. Being able to sequence stories, and make predictions about what will happen next, is an enduring skill they will need throughout life. This basic skill continues to build upon itself and allows children to begin learning how to plan and execute actions. First, we need to help nurture their ability to place events in a logical order.
Building a strong foundational base in sequencing will be one of the most important skills you can teach your child so start working on it as soon as they are ready!
To help strengthen these skills, tell your child stories that follow a logical sequence. Once they possess the ability to follow along with stories you tell, ask them to re-tell the story to you. We aren’t looking for perfection here, or memorization of each tiny detail. You just want to determine if your child can process the information, and summarize the main points in the correct order.
If your child struggles with re-telling a story you just told them, make it more authentic by asking about his day. If he is struggling to remember what happened, here are some supports you can provide:
- “What happened after breakfast?”
- “We had a sandwich for lunch. What did we do after lunch?”
- “Where did we go after your nap”
Once your child is able to answer those questions, model how to sequence multiple activities for him like this: “So this morning you played in your room, then we ate lunch, then you took a nap, and finally we went to the grocery store. That was a busy day!” Once he has seen how you sequence activities, he should quickly learn to do the same.
If your child isn’t ready to tell you a story, that’s ok. At the very least you would like them to be able to sequence actions on picture cards. Start with three pictures and ask them to put them into the correct order. Again, if they are struggling, try to make it more authentic. Your child may not be able to sequence pictures to reflect the correct steps needed to put on his shoes, but he might be able to demonstrate or verbalize these steps. Start by modeling three steps for them like this:
- “First, we need to get your shoes”
- “Next we need to put them on your feet”
- “Finally, we need to tie them.”
Once your child begins to sequence events well, it’s time to start working on prediction. Having the ability to predict what comes next will help with sequencing and overall cognitive processing. It will also lay the foundational framework for success in subjects they will experience later in school, like science.
Here are a few things you can do to help your child improve their prediction skills:
- 1. When you are reading stories, stop occasionally and ask “What do you think will happen next?”
- 2. Ask predicting questions like: “What will happen if I drop this rock in the lake?”
- 3. “Grandma is coming to visit this weekend, what do you think she will want to do?”
Another great way to improve prediction for children is through the use of repetitive songs, poems and finger plays. Reciting predictable songs and texts will allow your child to begin developing strong prediction skills. Make sure you ask them questions about what comes next!
“Where is thumbkins?” is a great finger play for prediction. If you aren’t familiar with it, do an internet search and you should find a video of the song and actions. Using this finger play, after you have progressed through 2-3 fingers, ask your child which finger will come next, or after you have completed a few fingers, stop before the “Here I am, here I am” line and ask them to show you which finger will answer. Be prepared to model your thinking for them if they are struggling.
Working on these skills at an early age will help your child improve his ability to take in new information, process and sequence it, and finally make predictions about what will come next. These skills are important to their academic and cognitive development and will help you send them off to school much better prepared to learn.
Hopefully this has boosted your motivation to read as well. If you have a child that is struggling with reading, give us a call at 270-925-2148 or visit our website at www.bluegrasslearning.com to learn how experienced and certified teachers can help. Happy reading!
