Sequencing & Retelling the "Scarecrow's Hat"

1-2-3 Come Make a Scarecrow With Me

Do you read the story “Scarecrow’s Hat” by Ken Brown? Click the picture to check out a nice reading of the book on YouTube..

My Young Fives really enjoy this story. Personally, it’s my favorite scarecrow-themed book.

Here’s the gist:
A very clever chicken admires Scarecrow’s hat, who will gladly swap it for a walking stick for his tired arms. Chicken REALLY wants that hat, but doesn’t have a walking stick; however, she knows who does! Thus begins her quest…But why does the chicken want an old straw hat?

Because of all the “swapping” going on with the various animal characters in the story, “Scarecrow’s Hat” is perfect for practicing the “sequencing and retelling a story” standards.

With that in mind, I designed this flip-the-flap scarecrow craftivity, which will help practice those two standards. My students absolutely love creating their booklet.

Completed projects make an adorable fall bulletin board too.

I’ve included a “We can sequence & retell a story, and that’s something to crow about!” poster, for the center of your display.

Fittingly, the top of scarecrow’s hat flips up and tells the tale.

Students color, cut & collate the “hump of the hat” - shaped pages into a little booklet, which is sequenced and glued to the top of scarecrow’s hat.

I purposely did not number the pages, so you can check comprehension.

This also allows you to choose less pages for preschool students, who can easily sort beginning-middle-end, then retell the story with a limited number of “picture prompts”.

For some 3D pop, add a jute bow to the knot on his neck, as well as some “straw hair”.

For my sample, I ran 2 sheets of yellow paper through my shredder, then glued just the end of a few strands under the brim of the hat, creating that finishing touch.

There are two booklet options.

The pages of the first version have only graphics, while the second option includes an unfinished “fill in the blank” sentence, which allows you to practice reading, writing, end punctuation, as well as check comprehension.

I’ve included black & white patterns, as well as colorful ones, so that you can quickly & easily make an example to share.

When everyone is done, have children pick a partner and take turns retelling the story of “Scarecrow’s Hat” to each other.
We sometimes do this sort of thing with our older reading buddies.

To further check comprehension as well as practice sequential writing, I’ve included a “Here’s What Happened…” writing prompt worksheet.

There’s a black & white template for students to fill in, plus a colorful pattern page so you can do this as a whole-group activity with little ones.

Today’s featured FREEBIE also has a scarecrow theme.
“My Scarecrow’s 5 Senses” is a rhyming, emergent reader packed, with plenty of Dolch words, and helps reinforce lots of Common Core State Standards.