The title “Ordinary Time” is taken from the Latin ordinal, from which we get our word ordinary. It’s not that this season is bah ha humdrum. Rather, it is a season of counting time from week to week.
During Ordinary Time this year, we will march through the gospel of Matthew in a somewhat linear fashion. We will also march through other New Testament books in a somewhat linear fashion. During this period between Christmas and Lent we will cover the first three chapters of 1 Corinthians. There will also be an Old Testament reading, chosen to complement the gospel passage in some way. Sometimes it is the Old Testament source of a quote; other times it is a similar story. Sometimes the connection is a reach. The New Testament reading sometimes lines up with the Gospel and Old Testament readings, but sometimes there is just no connection.
A good practice with the Ordinary Time readings is this: first read the gospel passage. Then read the Old Testament passage and see what you think the connection is. Then read the New Testament reading and see if there is a connection.
Another good practice is to read the entirety of a book: in this case Matthew and 1 Corinthians. The lectionary readings often leave out chunks of the books and it can be hard to get a sense of the overall narrative. For extra credit, you might want to engage in larger portions of the Old Testament readings as well.
If you are interested to go deeper into the lectionary readings, a good overview can be found at catholic-resources.org.