(working from a book or story read to the children.)
We should work on:
a) The main idea or the authors message
b) Sequence of events
c) Drawing conclusions
d) Determining cause and effect

1. Child identifies himself as the author, props can be a mask of the author's face, etc. the children ask the author questions, take turns being the author. (a)

2. Make with the children simple puppets to retell the story in their own words. This can be done with several children telling the story in sequence. (a, b)

3. Build a story with the whole group. E.g. "June went walking." Next child may say: "June went walking in the afternoon." Next one may say: "June went walking in the afternoon on Sunday," etc. (b)

4. Stop at a given point in the story, the children draw conclusions then see how the story in the book continues, compare the author's ideas with their own. (c)

5. Oral cloze: omitting a word from a sentence or a familiar story or poem and allowing the children to provide it. (c)

6. Children choose a different ending, accept all suggestions. Then finish the book to see how the author finished it. (c)

7. Cause and effect: the teacher says a sentence, children have to say why. E.g. "The dog ran to the door and barked furiously." (cause) "because someone was at the door." (effect) (d)

8. Listening to sentences and discriminating; which are nonsense, which are factual; which are true, which are false; reality and fantasy. E.g. "The cow jumped over the moon." "The rocket went to the moon." (c)

An additional note on activity #7: When doing cause and effect activities with younger children use "because" for children to understand better what is meant. "I fell because I was running too fast." Etc.