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Common Core ELA1st GradeWriting

W.1.3: Write a Story in Order with Time Words

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.1.3 · Cluster: Text Types and Purposes.

Make a Narrative PromptAll 41 1st Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Write narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events, include some details regarding what happened, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide some sense of closure.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 1, Writing · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What W.1.3 Means in Plain English

First graders tell about something that happened in at least two events, in the order they happened, with a few details and time words like first, then and after that. The story also needs an ending, even one as simple as “Now I have a gap in my smile.”

Kindergartners (W.K.3) tell events in order and react to them, often in drawings. Now the time words do the ordering in sentences, and a few details show what happened. In 2nd grade (W.2.3) an event is stretched out with actions, thoughts and feelings.

W.1.3 I Can Statements

  • I can tell two or more things that happened in order.
  • I can use first, next and then to show the order.
  • I can give my story an ending.

W.1.3 Worked Example

One prompt about a lost tooth, two stories. Both have the events, but only one puts them in order.

Prompt

Write about a time you lost a tooth. Tell what happened first, next and last, and give your story an ending.

Not YetMy tooth came out. I put it under my pillow. It was wiggly at lunch.Three events, but the last one happened first, so a reader has to untangle the order. There are no time words and no details about how the tooth came out, and the story stops without an ending.
Meets the StandardFirst my front tooth got wiggly. Then at lunch I bit my apple and the tooth came out in it! Next I put it in a little bag so I would not lose it. After that I put it under my pillow. Now I have a gap and I can whistle through it.Four events in the order they happened, each started with a time word. Details like biting the apple show what happened, and the last sentence is an ending that tells how things are now.
Moves to Use
Tell the story out loud to a partner first.Start each event with first, then, next or after that.Add one detail that shows what happened.End with how it turned out or how you felt.

Common Mistakes with W.1.3

Events out of order

“My tooth came out. It was wiggly at lunch.”

Try this: Fold a paper into three boxes, have the child draw one event per box in order, then write a sentence under each.

Then, then, then

“Then I ate lunch. Then my tooth came out. Then I went home. Then I went to bed.”

Try this: Post a time-word ladder (first, next, then, after that, at the end) and ask for a different word on each step.

The story stops instead of ending

The story halts on the last event and the writer adds “The end.”

Try this: Ask “How did it turn out?” or “How did you feel?” and have the child write that answer as the last sentence.

Where W.1.3 Fits

Comes BeforeW.K.3Tell about one event or a few linked events in order and react to what happened.
AlongsideRL.1.2Retell a story with its key details, the same ordering done with someone else’s story.SL.1.4Describe events out loud with relevant details, where a story often gets rehearsed before it is written.
Comes NextW.2.3Stretch an event or short sequence with details about actions, thoughts and feelings, plus time words and an ending.

Practice W.1.3

Writing Prompt GeneratorFree ToolA personal narrative prompt for the K-2 band, on screen for the class or printed for each writer, about something that really happened.Personal NarrativeK-2
Make a Prompt

Quick Check

  1. Which time words does the strong response use?
  2. What is wrong with the order of the weak response?
  3. Which sentence is the ending of the strong response, and why does it count?

W.1.3: Other Names

W.1.3CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.1.3

Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. Official wording from the Common Core State Standards PDFs at corestandards.org, last checked October 14, 2026. The explanation, I can statements, example, mistakes and practice on this page are EMStudio’s own, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standard.