Curriculum

• Three ready picture cards prepared before the child joins: wake up, get dressed, and put on shoes
• Crayon or pencil only if you need to redraw a smudged card

1. Step 1. Before the child joins, set out three large ready pictures: wake up, get dressed, and put on shoes. Do not ask a four-year-old to draw the cards.
2. Step 2. Say the model once while pointing: “First we wake up. Next we get dressed. Last we put on shoes.” Mix the cards, then ask your child to put them back in order and say “First ___, next ___, last ___.”
3. Step 3. On the same three cards only, ask one quick compare: “Is getting dressed before or after putting on shoes?” and “What comes after waking up?”
4. Step 4. Stop here if your child is done or tiring. Optional later step A, after a break or on another day: use three day cards labeled yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Say “The bear baked the day before painting. The bear paints today. When did the bear bake?” Aim for yesterday. Then say “The bear plants the day after painting. When will the bear plant?” Aim for tomorrow, and point to today for painting.
5. Step 5. Optional later step B: match wake up, lunch, and bedtime pictures to morning, afternoon, and evening.
6. Quick check. Mix the three home cards. Success means your child places wake up, get dressed, and put on shoes in order and says first, next, and last while pointing. A short before/after answer on those same cards is a bonus, not required. Do not require yesterday, tomorrow, or day-part answers for success today. Oral answers and pointing are enough.

Worked example. Point to the three home cards: “First I wake up. Next I get dressed. Last I put on shoes. Getting dressed is after waking up and before shoes.”

Optional challenge. Later steps only after first-next-last is easy. Step A: from “The bear baked the day before painting, and the bear paints today,” answer when the bear baked (yesterday) and confirm painting is today; from “The bear plants the day after painting,” answer when the bear will plant (tomorrow). Step B: classify one supplied event as morning, afternoon, or evening. Optional stretch: make a five-event strip that crosses day parts.

What to notice. Save a short parent note quoting the first-next-last sequence with wake up, get dressed, and put on shoes. If a later step was tried, add the before/after answer, the yesterday answer from the day-before clue, the today confirmation, the tomorrow answer from the day-after clue, or the morning-afternoon-evening match. A photo of the generic cards may accompany the note but should not show your child, a location, or a real family schedule.