Use Words That Tell Order

Supplied materials

• Original story: “Tess draws a fish. Then Tess colors the fish green. Last, Tess puts the drawing on a shelf.”
• Paper and pencil; spoken responses are welcome.

Learn the idea

A time word helps a reader follow when something happens. Then moves to the next event, and last marks this story’s final event. Before and after describe how two events relate. Tess draws before coloring; coloring happens after drawing. An adult can read the story and the choices aloud.

To answer an order question, point to the two relevant sentences and compare them. Do not select an event just because it sounds possible. Tess could give someone the drawing in another story, but this one says she puts it on a shelf. A retell should follow what this particular text tells us.

1. Read or listen to the whole story.
2. Number drawing, coloring, and shelving as 1, 2, and 3.
3. Say one before sentence and one after sentence.
4. Check your answer by pointing to the two events in the story.

Check your reasoning

Your answer is temporary and is not saved to an account. Download your current answer before leaving or reloading. Written work on paper or in another app stays in your own file.

Take it further

Change the order to “Tess draws a fish. Tess puts the drawing on a shelf. Tess takes it down and colors it.” Model: coloring is now last, after shelving. The old answer cannot be reused because the event order changed.

Nothing here is saved to an account or sent to a teacher. The answer download includes your current choice and any checked feedback.