Classroom comic kit · lesson 3 of 6
Put the panels back in order: a sequencing lesson
Grades 2–5 · 35–45 minutes. Students put cut-up panels in order and explain the clues that told them, then draw a six-step sequence clear enough for a partner to rebuild.
Materials
- Print the 6-panel comic page template, one each.
- One short comic strip, panels cut apart, one set for each pair
- The student sheet, one each
- Scissors, envelopes and pencils
Steps
- Give each pair an envelope of cut-up panels from one short strip. Their job: put it back the way the artist made it.
- Pairs lay the panels out and agree an order. Ask them to whisper their reasons, not just the answer.
- Share the clues as a class: a character's position, what changes in the background, cause and effect, words like then and after.
- Hand out the sheet. Students draw six steps of something they know well: making toast, a goal in soccer, a seed growing.
- No numbers on the front. Students cut on the dashed lines and mix up their panels.
- Partners swap piles and rebuild each other's sequence, then check it with the artist.
- Each artist fixes one panel that confused a partner, adding a clue to it.
Quick check for understanding
Students finish this on a sticky note: I knew panel 3 came before panel 4 because…
For every learner
More help: Start with three panels instead of six, and give the first panel already placed.
A stretch: Remove one panel from your sequence. Can your partner say what happened in the missing one?
Standards
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.5 · CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.5 · CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.7 · CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.1
Common Core English Language Arts codes; the wording is in your state's copy of the standards.
The two pages, as they print
Sequencing: panels in order
Grades 2–5 · 35–45 minutes · Peabody's classroom comic kit
Goal
Students put cut-up panels in order and explain the clues that told them, then draw a six-step sequence clear enough for a partner to rebuild.
Materials
- Print: the 6-panel comic page template, one each
- One short comic strip, panels cut apart, one set for each pair
- The student sheet, one each
- Scissors, envelopes and pencils
Steps
- Give each pair an envelope of cut-up panels from one short strip. Their job: put it back the way the artist made it.
- Pairs lay the panels out and agree an order. Ask them to whisper their reasons, not just the answer.
- Share the clues as a class: a character's position, what changes in the background, cause and effect, words like then and after.
- Hand out the sheet. Students draw six steps of something they know well: making toast, a goal in soccer, a seed growing.
- No numbers on the front. Students cut on the dashed lines and mix up their panels.
- Partners swap piles and rebuild each other's sequence, then check it with the artist.
- Each artist fixes one panel that confused a partner, adding a clue to it.
Quick check
Students finish this on a sticky note: I knew panel 3 came before panel 4 because…
Every learner
More help: Start with three panels instead of six, and give the first panel already placed.
A stretch: Remove one panel from your sequence. Can your partner say what happened in the missing one?
Standards (Common Core codes)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.5 · CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.5 · CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.7 · CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.1
Six steps, in order
Draw six steps of something you know how to do. No numbers! Cut on the dashed lines and swap.
Nothing is typed into this page and nothing is sent: the student sheet prints blank, to fill in by hand.
The other lessons
- The parts of a comic · Grades 2–5
- A 4-panel retell · Grades 2–4
- Sound words and onomatopoeia · Grades 2–5
- A comic book report · Grades 2–5
- Reading right to left (manga) · Grades 3–5
All six are on the classroom comic kit.