Order in our personal lives and in society at large depends on our understanding of sequence or chronological order. Some things are obvious. We know that we get out of bed before we brush our teeth and that we write a letter to place in an envelope before we seal it. We soon learn that a joke told in the wrong order loses its effectiveness.
Here are some ideas for providing practice with sequencing ideas.
1. Provide pictures that children can move and place in correct order. Commercial pictures are available but others can be found in old children's magazines and books, newspapers, and comic strips. Common kinds of pictures might be those which show stages of growth of plants or animals, movement of an athlete, seasonal changes and progress on a building or community improvement project.
2. Cut simple stories into strips and let children arrange or number them in the correct order.
3. Provide storytelling practice for children. Encourage them to make sequential note cards to aid memory.
4. Encourage children to develop outlines before writing a story.
5. Examine sequence in literature. Bill Martin Jr. discusses repetitive, cumulative, interlocking, familiar cultural, chronological, problem-centered, and rhyme-rhythm sequence in the following source:
Martin, Bill, Jr., and Brogan, Peggy. (1972). Sounds after dark, teacher's edition. Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
6. Try doing simple activities backwards to illustrate the importance of doing things in sequence.
7. Provide a simple recipe for making sandwiches, jello, cookies, or a salad. Let children prepare the food following the proper sequence.
8. Let children make a "Things to Do" list for themselves and number the items in the order in which they think the tasks need to be completed.
9. Let children draw pictures to illustrate the sequence of things they hope to do in years to come.
10. Play games in which sequential order is important.
11. Have students make a presentation using the computer and accompanying laser disks. Have them learn how to sequence the instructions for the use of their material.
These are materials or information placed in correct order. Their placement considers only sequence and not the amount of time that has elapsed between events. Time between events may vary greatly. Measured space is not used to indicate time periods.
Sequence lines are like finger plays which provide information in the correct order. Young children could begin making simple sequence lines by doing the following:
1. Draw a straight line down the side of a sheet of paper. Make pictures next to the line for a favorite finger play.
2. Arrange pictures or statements in sequential order.
3. Use clothespins to hang objects or pictures on a sequence "line."
4. Give individual children pictures showing events which have taken place in sequential order. Ask the children to hold the pictures and arrange themselves in the correct order.
5. Make linear link puzzles which show events taking place in sequential order. Have children put the puzzles together in the correct order.
6. Have children draw pictures in sequential order. Make a roller box movie by using the pictures.
7. Provide Velcro strips on which children can attach items in sequential order.
8. Provide a peg board on which children can hang picture cards in the correct order.
Educational supply houses, commercial firms, textbooks and teachers provide the student with many types of time lines. Keep the following in mind when constructing time lines.
1. Make all intervals the same length.
2. Choose a scale which is appropriate for the topic.
3. Provide enough space so written material will not look crowded.
4. Choose appropriate beginning and ending points.
5. Avoid placing items on a time line which do not relate directly to the chosen theme.
6. Use attractive lettering which can be easily read. Young children may need the type of cursive or manuscript lettering they are accustomed to using in other class work.
7. Use a ruler, yard stick, or meter stick to draw lines.
8. Erase guide lines which are not necessary on the final product.
9. Choose appropriate tag board or paper for the project.
The literature contains a variety of teaching ideas. Many writers suggest that children begin by drawing a time line of their own life and marking significant events on it. Branley (1960) stated that a scale of one inch equal to ten years could be used. Along the side of it a line representing the age of the United States could be drawn. Important historical events would be placed on it. Additional time lines could be drawn representing the Christian era, the Jewish era, and the time elapsed since people appeared on the face of the earth. By this time the scale of one inch being equal to ten years would no longer work and students would see the need for changing the scale. The brevity of our lifetime would be illustrated when viewed in relation to events of the past.
9. Place a piece of tape on the floor. Label intervals with the words first, second, third, fourth, and so on. Have children stand next to the words as they dramatize or illustrate events which occur in a special order.
10. Have children make a "things to do" list. Ask them to number the items in the order in which they should be done. Rewrite the list in the new order. Help the children do things in the order in which they have listed them on the "sequence line."
11. Make cardboard blocks from milk cartons. Glue pictures showing sequences on the sides of the blocks. Let the children play with the blocks and arrange them in the correct sequences.
12. Read a story. Make a listing of the events in the story. Write the items in the correct order.
It is helpful to link local history with regional and national history.
1. Create a time line or sequence line giving the history of the land on which a building is located.
2. Include information about historical geology.
3. Add information about the earliest people who lived in the area.
4. Identify significant explorers, wars fought, boundary changes, and settlement of immigrants and others.
5. Examine this list of events related to Medford, Wisconsin.
6. Make a list for your own area.
Prehistoric time - Glaciers covered Wisconsin
Early inhabitants - Native Americans- Huron, Menomonie, Sauk, Kickapoo, and Ojibwa
1634 - Jean Nicolet, a French explorer, landed on the Green Bay shore.
1673 - Louis Joliet and Father Jacques Marquette traveled through the Wisconsin region.
1712 - War between French and Fox Indians broke out. Both wanted control of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, the region's chief water route.
1740 - The French defeated the Fox Indians - (Wisconsin a part of France - New France)
1754 - French and Indian War began. This war was fought between Great Britain and France over rival claims to America.
1763 - England received the Wisconsin region from France under terms of the Treaty of Paris. France lost Canada and all it possessions east of the Mississippi River.
1774 - The British passed the Quebec Act. Wisconsin became part of the province of Quebec.
1783 - Wisconsin became part of the United States. The 1783 Treaty of Paris ended the American Revolutionary War. Under the treaty, Britain gave up all the territory east of the Mississippi and south of the Great Lakes.
1787 - Northwest Ordinance.
1788 - What is now Wisconsin was part of the Northwest Territory. That was a very big area of land that the United States got from Great Britain as part of a settlement ending the Revolutionary War. (1783). A territorial government was established in 1788 and many pioneers came to live in the Northwest Territory.
1800 - 1809 - Wisconsin formed part of the Indiana Territory.
1809 - 1818 - Wisconsin was part of the Illinois Territory.
1818 - 1836 - Wisconsin was part of the Michigan Territory.
1832 - The Indians made their last stand in Wisconsin against the white people in the Black Hawk War of l832.
1836 - Congress created the Wisconsin Territory.
1837 - Chippewa Indians gave up the right to their land in the Taylor County area.
1848 - May 29, Wisconsin became the 30th state.
1854 - Taylor County was surveyed
1857 - Paul Whitefish, Chief of the Chippewa tribe, was born. (Father Zow-sko-kisch; Mother Sophia)
1862 - May 20 - The Homestead Act was passed.
1872 - Settlement of Europeans began in Taylor County.