Sequencing is a very important pre-reading skill. Why teach your child "Sequencing"? Well, we sequence all day long. You probably don't even know you doing it. Driving to work; turn right, then turn left, go straight ahead then park up: is sequencing. But teaching sequencing with concrete hands on activities will seriously benefit your child when it comes to learning to read and to comprehend the world we live in.
What is sequencing. It's the process of putting things in a logical order such as objects, ideas or events. We understand events in our life by understanding the order in which they occur. For children this is a difficult concept to grasp. When a child tells a story they may find it difficult to lay the story out in chronological order, as they haven't yet understood how to sequence.
How can you help? Firstly by using key words such as, "first", "next", and "finally", to cue your child on what comes next. But, activities are a fun way to learn as well.
Here are some ideas on how you and your child can have fun with sequencing.
Photo Sequencing: Have several family pictures of one member of the family at different stages of their life. Ask your child to assemble them in order of growing up. Use basic concepts of sequencing vocabulary such as, "Younger", "older", "shorter", "taller"; and ask your child to describe what they are seeing. For example, "I was a baby and learned to crawl, then I learned to walk, then I learned how to run".
Picture Sequencing: Cut up magazines pictures that follow an obvious sequence of events, then scramble them up and ask your child to re-assemble in the correct order of occurrence.
Letter and Number Sequencing: As your child begins to recognize numbers and letters you can use flash cards (no more than 6 at a time, so as not to overwhelm your child) and ask them to assemble the cards in the correct order. Let them talk about what they are doing and use sequencing vocabulary such as "before" and "after".
Sequencing activities: A simple activity such as threading colored beads in a logical order, such as red-blue-green-red-blue-green etc, is a real fun way to learn, as well as helping to develop fine motor skills.
In Lake Mary Childcare's VPK class, we use a simple small group activity such as colored dominoes, which has an extremely productive effect on learning sequencing, by arranging colors and/or domino numbers, as well as practicing motor and social skills at the same time. See picture of our class above.
Have a great week having fun with your child
Lisa