In this picture...

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I used sequencing cards in a variety of ways. In this picture you can see sequencing picture cards and sentences that tell the folk tale The Little Red Hen. In this particular activity I used them to retell the story, and then invited the children to come up to retell the story in their own words.

I tried to make picture cards to accompany stories whenever possible. It's fairly easy to find images online, or if they are simple images you can sketch them yourselves. The pictures don't have to look exactly like the ones in the story - the children won't mind.

Another thing to share: Next to the sentence strips and pictures, you can see a rain stick. I used the rain stick as a cue for transitions. Children respond so much better to change when they know it's coming (don't we all!?), so I made sure to give them a warning before a change. I would turn the rain stick to get everyone's attention (this worked better than trying to get everyone's attention verbally) and let them know what transition was coming, and how much time I was putting on the timer. When the timer went off I would hold the rain stick up and turn it over, signaling the time for transition. If you've never heard a rain stick, they make a sound that is intended to sound like a heavy rain. It's fairly soothing, and worked well for this purpose.