Put It in Order: Making a Sandwich
Seven steps for making a sandwich, from washing your hands to cleaning up, to put in order and retell.
Tap two cards to swap them
How to run it
Read each step aloud, then let the student arrange them. Ask why some steps have to come first: why wash your hands before touching the bread, why the top slice goes on last. After checking, ask for a spoken retell without the board, as if teaching a younger sibling. Swap in the fillings the student actually likes to keep it personal.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentPresent the item and wait 5 seconds of quiet before helping.Log as correct
- Question promptAsk a story-grammar question: who, where, what was the problem, what happened next?Log as cued
- Two choicesOffer two possible next parts of the story and let the student pick and say it.Log as cued
- ModelTell that part yourself; the student tells it back in their own words.Log as cued
Adjust it
Use fewer parts, and keep a first-next-last visual on the table.
Ask for the retell without the pictures, with a feeling or a reason added to each part.
Matching IEP goal
Given a picture or story prompt, Student will put events in order and retell them using first, next, then and last in 4 of 5 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than one question prompt.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Seven steps for making a sandwich: wash your hands first, get out bread and fillings, put two slices on a plate, spread sauce on the bread, add your fillings, put the top slice on, and put food away and clean up. It suits secondary students working on daily living routines, where a familiar task makes it possible to focus on order and on explaining it clearly.
What to listen for
Watch for whether the student sees the bookends as optional. Washing hands and cleaning up are the steps most often dropped in a retell, and they are the ones that matter most when the student does it alone. Listen also for vague words like stuff and do it in place of the actual step.
Carrying it home
Make a sandwich together at home and let the student direct you step by step while you follow exactly what they say. If they skip a step, do the same thing they said and let the result show the gap. Then switch roles. Writing the steps on a card for the fridge can help with the first few attempts.
What's in this activity
- Wash your hands first
- Get out bread and fillings
- Put two slices on a plate
- Spread sauce on the bread
- Add your fillings
- Put the top slice on
- Put food away and clean up
Questions
- Who is this for?
- Students in grades 6 through 12 working on sequencing, daily living routines and giving clear spoken directions.
- Can we name the fillings?
- Yes. Edit the step in the Activity Studio to name the fillings the student likes. The order of the steps is the point, not the ingredients.
- Is it free?
- Yes. It plays free in the browser with no login. An account adds session data, goal scoring and assignment to a student.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.