Reading: Comprehension

Sequencing and Signal Words

 

            Today's Snack: "Sequence" is another word for "order." A sequence is a series of events in which one thing follows another.

The seasons come in sequence - winter, spring, summer, fall. It's the same thing with stories and books. They all have a beginning, a middle and an end. A sequence!

Even individual sentences have a sequence. The sentence begins, there's action and details in the middle, and then the sentence ends.

You will be a better reader if you pay attention to sequences in what you read. And you will be a happier snacker if you pay attention to the sequence of food items that you put together to make a snack recipe.

Today's sequence is bread-peanut butter-jelly-bread, and voila! That sequence just produced a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for your snack!

Wash it down with a tall glass of milk, taking a sip after every bite - in sequence!

 

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Supplies:

A stack of books to read for fun

 

The "sequence" in a piece of writing is its order - beginning, middle and end. A sequence is a series or pattern of events, descriptions and action.

 

If you can follow the sequence in a sentence, paragraph or whole story, you are much more likely to understand what is happening. So it's a great skill for reading.

 

There are cues in a piece of writing to help you understand the sequence. We call these "signal words." These are words that alert you that something is coming before or after something else. Like a traffic light flashes red, signaling you to stop, a signal word in a piece of writing tells you that the sequence is about to change.

 

Practice observing sequences by reading a book for fun, alone or with a friend or adult. Stop and comment when you see signal words, like these:

 

Then

 

But

 

After a while

 

Next

 

. . . etc. What other signal words can you list, that show sequences?