8 Identifying sequence with Little Jack Horner

Learning outcomes

Students will identify the sequence of events in a story.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

40 minutes

Materials needed

• Optional: Recording of “Little Jack Horner” from nursery rhyme CD, such as 100 Songs for Kids or text version from nursery rhyme book
• Nursery Rhyme Flip Chart or large chart paper with the nursery rhyme “Little Jack Horner” written on it
• Pie plate
• Materials to make pictures for sequence activity (See “Pre-activities” below):
  • Card stock or construction paper
  • Black marker
  • Masking tape or stick-on magnets
• Sweet Dream Pie by Audrey Wood and Mark Teague

Pre-activities

• Prepare the pictures for the sequence activity:
  • Find or draw pictures of the following on card stock or construction paper: a boy (Little Jack Horner), the boy sitting in a corner, a pie, a thumb, a plum, and the boy’s smiling face. It may be easy to find clip art for these images.
  • Cut out the images.
  • Stick magnets or masking tape on the back of the pictures, and hang them up in random order on the board prior to the lesson.
• If you’re not using a flip chart, write the nursery rhyme on chart paper for students to see.

Activities

1. Chant and have students repeat the following lines to the tune of “Peanut Butter and Jelly”:
   

   First you take the plum and you pick it, you pick it.
   First you take the plum and you pick it, you pick it.
   Plum, Plum Pie Yummy! Plum, Plum Pie Yummy!
   
   Then you take the plum and you peel it, you slice it.
   Then you take the plum and you peel it, you slice it.
   Plum, Plum Pie Yummy! Plum, Plum Pie Yummy!
   
   Next you take the spices and you mix it, you mix it
   Next you take the spices and you mix it, you mix it
   Plum, Plum Pie Yummy! Plum, Plum Pie Yummy!
   
   You put it in the oven and you wait, you wait.
   You put it in the oven and you wait, you wait.
   Plum, Plum Pie Yummy! Plum, Plum Pie Yummy!
   
   You take it out the oven and you bite it, you chew it,
   You take it out the oven and you bite it, you chew it,
   Plum, Plum Pie Yummy! Plum, Plum Pie Yummy!

2. Optional: Play the recording of “Little Jack Horner” for the class.
3. Have the students say and read the words on the chart as they do the following movements:
   

   Little Jack Horner [Pretend to put on a hat.]
   Sat in a corner [Sit in an imaginary chair.]
   Eating a tasty pie [Pretend to eat.]
   He stuck in his thumb [Point your thumb down.]
   And pulled out a plum [Point your thumb up and smile.]
   And said, “What a good boy am I” [Nod head and cross arms.]

4. Hand out magnetic pictures of the poem. Have students come up and place a picture next to the words that go with that picture.
5. Have students name the rhyming pairs (horner and corner; pie and I; thumb and plum)
6. Read the book Sweet Dream Pie to the class.
7. Conclude the lesson by asking students the following questions:
   • What other nursery rhymes have a boy named Jack in them?
   • Why wouldn’t the boy use a fork to eat?
   • Why would Jack have sat in the corner?
   • What other types of pies are there?
   • What else rhymes with pie?

Assessment

Assess by students’ ability to put the pictures in the correct sequence.

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Related topics

• Search LEARN NC for more resources on language arts, nursery rhymes, and sequence.