Scarecrow Craft The Scarecrow's Hat Sequencing & Retelling a Story Activities

Do you read “Scarecrow’s Hat” by Ken Brown? My Young Fives really enjoy this story, and it’s my favorite scarecrow-themed book.

Teacher Comments:

• "This was a wonderful hands on resource! My students loved it!"
• "Retelling has never been easier...Thank you!"
• "So fun. One of my students said it was the best thing we have done all year!"
• "Super cute resource. Very easy to use with meaningful activities."

Because of all the “swapping” going on with the various 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 craftivity, which will help practice those two standards. My students absolutely love making them.

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”. The variety of options make it easy to diversify.

Teacher Comments:

• "This is a very engaging literacy activity. The different levels allow for modified instruction."
• "Love the differentiation!"
• "I used this with my wants and needs unit. The kiddos really enjoyed it."

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.

Teacher Comments:

• Adorable beyond words. Fun! Fun!
• These turned out so cute! My students absolutely loved it!

Fun Ideas:

• For some 3D pop, you can 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.

There's also a blank-faced scarecrow pattern if children want to draw their own.

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.

Teacher Comments:

• "My students had so much fun completing this project. I was amazed at how well they did with sequencing and retelling."
• "This is such a fun resource!"

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.

After I finished designing this craft and my other 3D hat, I decided to make the "bowl" hat for myself, to share with my students after I read the story, as a means of reviewing the sequence of the book, then I had them transition to making this scarecrow craftivity.

Because of this, I thought I’d BUNDLE both packets, in case you’d like to do that too, so you'll get an extra craftivity for just $2.00 more.

Click the link to check out the BUNDLE.

I’m Diane from Teach With Me hoping your students enjoy “flipping & flapping” as much as mine do.

Click here to see my other Scarecrow activities.

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