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Provide examples such as daily activities that clearly fall into the beginning of the day and end of the day categories. For example, eating cereal, changing into clothes, and drinking orange juice are activities that are done at the beginning of the day.

will explain to students that understanding the order of what happens in a story is important because it helps us understand the story better. I will explain that today we are going to concentrate on thinking about what is happening at the beginning of a story and what is happening at the end of a story. I will model identifying the beginning and the end of a book using a previously read book. For example, in Shelia Rae, The Brave by Kevin Henkes, Shelia Rae was very brave in the beginning of the book. She wasn’t afraid of thunderstorms or dogs or the dark. Model identifying the beginning of the book by doing a picture walk of the first few pages. This is what happened first in the story so it is the beginning of the story. I will look at the end of the book by looking at the last few pages of the story. In the end, Shelia Rae and her sister walked home together and were very brave together. That is what happened at the end of the book. I will read, I’m Not Going to Chase the Cat Today! by Jessica Harper. I will think aloud about what is happening at the beginning of the story, as I read up to page 9.

Ask: "How did I determine what was happening at the beginning of the story and what was happening at the end of the story?" Students should respond that you looked at the first part of the story to find what is happening at the beginning and you looked at the last part of the story to find what is happening at the end.

will finish reading I’m Not Going to Chase the Cat Today! We will discuss what happened at the end of the book. I will write (with pictures) two events that happened in the book on the board. 1.) The dog woke up from his nap. 2.) The lady, the cat, the dog, and the mouse all shook hands. We will decide which of these events happened at the beginning of the story and which happened at the end. (As the teacher is reading, she or he may choose to briefly discuss what is happening in the middle of the book, but the focus of the discussion should be on the beginning and end.)

will be given two other events from the story. You will decide which event happened at the beginning of the story and which happened at the end. You will cut out the two events and paste them in the correct order. (Independent Practice Worksheet is provided.)