Chronological OrderChronological OrderWriters often describe events or experiences in the order in which they happen in time.

A witch locks Rapunzel in a tower.

Rapunzel calls out to the knight.

Rapunzel lets her hair down so the knight can climb up.

The knight saves Rapunzel from the tower.

Rapunzel and the knight get married.

Do I use this skill in the real world?

• You use chronological order in the real world to keep track of time, to plan events, and to understand the order in which events happen.

You describe what happened in school to your parents by time.

You plan your birthday party by putting events in order. What do I need to do first?

Chronological Order

• Chronological order means organizing events in time order, or the order in which they actually happened.

• When an author describes a series of events in the order in which they happened, he or she is using chronological order.

• When using chronological order the author uses signal words: before, during, after, yesterday, immediately, suddenly, in ten years, month, next month, year, last year, decade, century, an hour ago, at 9:00 o’clock, etc.

Time Order

• When writers talk about things that happen, they usually don’t skip around. They tell the events in the order they happened.

By the 1700s, some Quakers spoke out against slavery. In the late 1700s, some leaders of the American Revolution argued that slavery did not belong in a nation where “all men are created equal.” By the 1830s, more and more Americans believed that slavery should end. These people are called abolitionists.

Three Time Periods

Show Time Order on Timelines

Quakers spoke out.More people opposed

slavery.1700 1800 1830s

Look For Signal Words

Michael and Jasmine were thrilled to be going to Six Flags. Saturday morning was a great time to go to an amusement park. First, they got up very early and ate a big breakfast. Afterwards, they dressed quickly to make sure they would be ready when it was time to leave. Then Michael and Jasmine helped each other get their suntan lotion and towels together and loaded them in the car. Finally, Michael’s dad came outside and they jumped in the truck.

Lets Use the Organizer to Put the Events in Order

Michael and Jasmine got

up early.

They ate a big breakfast.

They dressed quickly.

They loaded their suntan lotion and towels in the car.

Michael’s dad came outside and they jumped in the

truck.

Look For Words That Show Order of Events

Mice are the creatures of the earth that can make me light-headed and weak in the knees. One day, my young son came in from the garage laughing hysterically. He announced that I had mice in the 50-pound bag of dog food. Believing he was pulling a prank, I boldly marched into the garage. I heard those critters gnawing. I saw them scurrying, and I clearly spotted those long, skinny, slinky tails swishing across the floor. I dashed to the store to buy mousetraps. I bought blue tube traps. A little peanut butter on one end of the tube would draw the critters into the trap. The trap door would then slam shut on them. I prepared the traps with peanut butter and set them next to the bag of dog food. Within fifteen minutes, the traps were full. Then I panicked. Now what was I supposed to do? The directions said to dump the mice into water and drown them. I could not muster up the courage to perform that act. Instead, I placed the traps in the bottom of the garbage and decided my husband could take care of the mice when he got home.

Were signal words enough?

Lets try finding words or phrases that help. Hint: Look for action words.

Draw Your Own Organizer

1. After reading the directions on this slide go back to the slide with the story about the mice.

2. Decide which organizer you want to use to show the chronological order of events of the story.

3. Draw and fill in the organizer to show the order of events.

4. When you are done compare your organizer with your partner to reach consensus about your answers.

5. Make any changes necessary after talking to your partner.

Show Your Skills

1. Write the steps of the lesson we learned using the power point into a paragraph. Hint: it would be helpful to draw an organizer.

2. Choose an article in a magazine and identify and explain the chronological events in the article. Hint: it would be helpful to draw an organizer.