October Story Sequencing Hats
Room on the Broom, The Scarecrow’s Hat, Stellalua, and Pumpkin Jack are some of my favorite sequencing books for October. These much-loved stories all have structures that work well for putting events in order and retelling. At the same time, telling the story back helps young students with comprehension and oral language.
I started creating story sequencing hats way back in 2019, and the feedback has been so wonderful that I’ve made more and more of them over the years. (It makes me so happy to hear back from teachers when they love something I’ve made!)
These fall story sequencing hats have been particularly popular. The first three I’m going to show you are all in my store. The last one is a smaller set, and you can get it for free right here from the blog.
Room on the Broom Story Hats
Julia Donaldson’s classic book Room on the Broom is a cumulative tale about a friendly witch who lets so many animals ride on her broomstick that it breaks. The animals work together to save the witch from a dragon and help her conjure up a new broom. Donaldson’s trademark rhyming make it a delight to read aloud.
Once you’ve read the story once or twice, your students can work to put all the events in order on a hat! You can grab these Room on the Broom Sequencing Hats in my store.
A Hat for Retelling The Scarecrow’s Hat
The Scarecrow’s Hat by Ken Brown is another cumulative tale. In this one, a determined chicken wants the straw hat that a scarecrow is wearing. She cleverly trades items with different farm animals in a chain of events that ends with her making a nest in the hat. Children will enjoy meeting all the animal characters and making predictions as you read aloud. Then they can make a Scarecrow’s Hat story crown.
As far as retelling the story, getting the correct sequence is critical because each step depends on what came before. You can provide support using the matching set of illustrated sentence strips that fit in a pocket chart and are perfect for whole-group instruction. Then, students can follow along as they build their crowns.
Alternatively, you can choose the version of the hat that already has each step printed in order. This is probably the best option for younger students who are focusing on retelling rather than sequencing.
Stellaluna Fall Story Sequencing Hats
Stellaluna by Janell Cannon is a longer picture book with a compelling, relatable storyline. A baby bat gets lost from her mother and falls into a nest of baby birds. The mama bird takes care of her but wants her to behave like a bird, not a bat. They all learn to fly, and Stellaluna flies far away on her own. She meets up with some other bats who tell her it’s okay to behave like a bat. Finally, her mother finds her.
That’s a lot of twists!
Working through the plotline step by step can help children understand the story more deeply. Putting each of those story-steps in order will also lay the groundwork for more advanced reading and writing skills years down the road.
You can make this work fun with a story sequencing hat! Here is one of the three versions. You can see the whole set of hats for Stellaluna in my TPT store.
Free Story Hats for Pumpkin Jack
Finally, there’s Pumpkin Jack by Will Hubbell. This heartwarming story makes it easy to interest students in the life cycle of a pumpkin and the seasons of the year. Making a crown for retelling the story will get them even more engaged, and this hat is free!
I have these as a freebie in my TPT store, so you can grab them there.
Pumpkin Jack would also be a great November read-aloud, particularly the week after Halloween.
One thing I would talk about with kids after reading is that seeds are needed to grow a new pumpkin plant. Jack is a hollowed-out pumpkin that was carved into a jack-o-lantern, so does that mean a seed was missed?
I hope you and your little ones enjoy all of these October stories and story sequencing activities.
Happy Teaching!
