What kinds of stories are on the first grade sheets?

Small, familiar ones: making pancakes, finding a lost boot, washing a stuffed bear. Each has a clean beginning, middle, and end, so the order is real but reachable.

Do the passages use words like first and next?

At this level, usually yes. Those time words are the training wheels; later grades take some of them away.

1st grade sequencing

1st grade sequencing worksheets

Sequencing worksheets for first grade tell short, clear stories: a pancake morning, a lost boot, a bath for a muddy bear. Questions ask what happened first, next, and last. Time words in the passage light the way, and the answer key follows the story's own order.

Free printable PDF worksheet, aligned to Common Core RL.1.2.

Each click picks one of the 13 passages written for this grade. Every sheet comes with its answer key. You don't need to sign up.

The kind of passages you'll get

Read the passage. Then circle the letter of the best answer for each question.

The Sandcastle

Ben and his mom went to the beach to build a sandcastle. First, Ben dug near the water, where the sand was wet. Wet sand sticks together. Dry sand falls apart. Next, he packed the wet sand into his bucket and pressed it down hard.…

What did Ben do first? dug in the wet sand · flipped the bucket over · poked in shells · looked for one more shell
Answer: dug in the wet sand
What did Ben do right after he packed the bucket? flipped it and tapped the bottom · poked shells into the walls for windows · dug some more near the water · made three more sand towers

Each print picks one of the 13 passages written for this grade, and its questions come with it. With 13 to pick from, a second print can land on one you've used, so check the title before you hand it out.

What's on a 1st grade sheet

1st grade sheets draw from 13 passages, 78 to 126 words long. All 13 are on 2nd grade sheets too, along with 13 more. On 2nd grade sheets they run 78 to 157 words.

Some of the titles: A Ladybug's Day, A Seed Grows Up, The Birthday Card, How Honey Gets Made, Wash Day for Bear, Zoe's Library Day.

Reading passage. Read the passage. Then circle the letter of the best answer for each question. One passage per sheet, with its own question set.

Every version prints on US Letter or A4, with its answer key on the last page.

How to teach this

After reading, retell the story together with your child's fingers: thumb is first, pinky is last. If a finger runs out of story, read again. The physical count keeps young readers from skipping the middle.

Watch for: Kids answer with the order events are MENTIONED, which sometimes differs from the order they happened. The question always asks about story order. First and last get all the attention, but the middle carries the sheet. Ask what happened right after a given event, not just what started and ended things.

Common questions about 1st grade sequencing

What kinds of stories are on the first grade sheets?: Small, familiar ones: making pancakes, finding a lost boot, washing a stuffed bear. Each has a clean beginning, middle, and end, so the order is real but reachable.
Do the passages use words like first and next?: At this level, usually yes. Those time words are the training wheels; later grades take some of them away.

Related worksheets

Ready to print one?

Want a different passage? Print again. Each print picks one of the 13.

Aligned to Common Core RL.1.2. Reviewed by the One more sheet team. Content version 240, updated October 2026.

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