Early Narration

[Guest]

Do you do anything to encourage narration before you begin FLL 1/2 and WWE? We're planning on starting these next year and so I've started asking him to tell me stuff about the books that I've read to him. The first few days weren't so hot. It seems like when I didn't really care if he remembered, he would bring up things, but now that I am specifically asking him, I'm often met with, "I don't know, I want you to help me". Today I told him to tell me one thing he remembered from a book and I was surprised at the section that he recalled and told me about. He didn't do so hot at some of the specific questions I asked, though. Do FLL/WWE assume that your child already narrates stories back to you or is it an easy beginning?

[The Governess]

It's an easy beginning. You could just ask him to tell you what his favorite part of the story was for now, and maybe one or two specific questions if you know he is interested. If it's hard for him to come up with an answer you could give him a choice in the question to start out: "Was the dragon a mean dragon or a nice dragon?" "He was a nice dragon." Then ask "how do you know he is a nice dragon?" And see if he can elaborate.

 

The main emphasis in WWE is that they answer all questions in a complete sentence. But with WWE1 they have a whole year to build on that skill, it's not something they need to know how to do before they start.

 

You may want to keep the passage you are asking him about short. WWE starts out with a 2 or 3 paragraph section and builds to maybe 4-5 paragraphs.

 

Hope that helps!

[Dawn E]

Does he like to draw? Could you get him to draw a picture about what you've read and then tell you about the picture? Not sure if that helps at all...I'm no narration expert. But, in addition to narrating the stories in the CW Primers, they have a space for the child to draw a picture from the story. Maybe drawing about it would help him to talk more about it.

[Guest]

Oh, wonderful. Thank you! It sounds like we're right on track then.

[Guest]

Does he like to draw? Could you get him to draw a picture about what you've read and then tell you about the picture? Not sure if that helps at all...I'm no narration expert. But, in addition to narrating the stories in the CW Primers, they have a space for the child to draw a picture from the story. Maybe drawing about it would help him to talk more about it.

 

He is not into art, but I think that would be a great idea to mix things up every once in awhile. Thanks, Dawn!

[Tracy]

My dd4 likes to act out the stories. We sometimes get out the dolls and stuffed animals to play different parts.

 

Tracy

[pageta]

My advice is to keep trying. We've been doing narration consistently for 8 weeks now and while my son is by no means perfect at narration, I've stuck with it. He does really well is Aesop's fables, which are short. He struggled the most with The Blue Fairy Book, but I've learned through trial and error that a couple paragraphs or a half page is a good length for him to stop and do a quick summary of what I've read.

 

Some people say to go sentence by sentence when you start out, but that gets old really fast and can be quite frustrating. I've also learned in the past eight weeks by stopping after various lengths how to tell if he's been listening. For instance, if there is a direct distraction that I am aware of (like a picture from a previous story that he's obsessed with or his little brother is playing with one of his favorite toys or books) he won't be able to narrate at all.

 

I also narrate myself, especially when his narration was weak or non-existent; I do this in order to give him an idea of what I'm looking for, and it gives me a feel for what it is like to narrate various things as well. I see narration as two-fold - it helps them remember the story and it also develops their verbal skills which is the beginning of learning how to write.

 

But just keep trying and you'll figure out what works for your child. Don't give up just because it doesn't work right away. I read the other day about a mom who compared her son's narrations when he was starting out with what they were a year later and the difference was quite astounding. It's an important skill to learn and it doesn't happen overnight, just like reading.

[Guest Cindie2dds]

Do you do anything to encourage narration before you begin FLL 1/2 and WWE? We're planning on starting these next year and so I've started asking him to tell me stuff about the books that I've read to him. The first few days weren't so hot. It seems like when I didn't really care if he remembered, he would bring up things, but now that I am specifically asking him, I'm often met with, "I don't know, I want you to help me". Today I told him to tell me one thing he remembered from a book and I was surprised at the section that he recalled and told me about. He didn't do so hot at some of the specific questions I asked, though. Do FLL/WWE assume that your child already narrates stories back to you or is it an easy beginning?

 

Your son is still really young. There are some thoughts (CM) that a child shouldn't be required to narrate before 6. I really think it depends on the child. Having him color about what you are reading or asking him his favorite part is a great narration start.

 

My eldest didn't want to narrate before. Now that she's 6 and I require it of her, I remind her before the paragraph, or chapter if it's an easy read, that she will be required to narrate. This has really helped her to listen since she would much rather do math. My three year old, however, loves to tell the stories back, but that's just her personality. She is a talker, she loves to pray out loud, she makes up elaborate stories, it's natural for her.

 

Be patient, he's very young.

[Guest]

Your son is still really young. There are some thoughts (CM) that a child shouldn't be required to narrate before 6. I really think it depends on the child. Having him color about what you are reading or asking him his favorite part is a great narration start.

 

My eldest didn't want to narrate before. Now that she's 6 and I require it of her, I remind her before the paragraph, or chapter if it's an easy read, that she will be required to narrate. This has really helped her to listen since she would much rather do math. My three year old, however, loves to tell the stories back, but that's just her personality. She is a talker, she loves to pray out loud, she makes up elaborate stories, it's natural for her.

 

Be patient, he's very young.

 

Thank you for this reminder! :) I guess I'm thinking ahead and of preparing him. For example, if someone didn't read to their child at all for 5-6 years and then sat down for 2 hours of intense reading, it might be a bit of an adjustment for the child. However, if they had been reading to them all their life and slowly transition into tougher, longer books, the child shouldn't have any problem. In the same way, I just don't want to skip a step and then get frustrated because we haven't been doing preliminary steps all along, if that makes sense.

[Guest]

My dd4 likes to act out the stories. We sometimes get out the dolls and stuffed animals to play different parts.

 

Tracy

 

Ha ha, great idea! I didn't even think that both of my kids DO do this already!

 

My advice is to keep trying. We've been doing narration consistently for 8 weeks now and while my son is by no means perfect at narration, I've stuck with it. He does really well is Aesop's fables, which are short. He struggled the most with The Blue Fairy Book, but I've learned through trial and error that a couple paragraphs or a half page is a good length for him to stop and do a quick summary of what I've read.

 

Some people say to go sentence by sentence when you start out, but that gets old really fast and can be quite frustrating. I've also learned in the past eight weeks by stopping after various lengths how to tell if he's been listening. For instance, if there is a direct distraction that I am aware of (like a picture from a previous story that he's obsessed with or his little brother is playing with one of his favorite toys or books) he won't be able to narrate at all.

 

I also narrate myself, especially when his narration was weak or non-existent; I do this in order to give him an idea of what I'm looking for, and it gives me a feel for what it is like to narrate various things as well. I see narration as two-fold - it helps them remember the story and it also develops their verbal skills which is the beginning of learning how to write.

 

But just keep trying and you'll figure out what works for your child. Don't give up just because it doesn't work right away. I read the other day about a mom who compared her son's narrations when he was starting out with what they were a year later and the difference was quite astounding. It's an important skill to learn and it doesn't happen overnight, just like reading.

 

Thanks - I like everything you said here.

[FO4UR]

Our earliest narrations were in the form of imaginative play. We'd read about David & Goliath and 30min later, ds was swinging rocks at trees.;):lol:

 

My dc love telling Daddy about the stories they like.

 

I didn't push narrating until very recently...my ds is 7yo.

 

The trick is reading stuff that he WANTS to re-live.

[Tracy]

I used to have a very narrow view of narration--that it was just regurgitating the story, preferably in one's own words. But there are many ways to do it. This list really helped me to see that: http://simplycharlottemason.com/timesavers/narration/.

 

Tracy

[robsiew]

My ds is 6 and I'm prepping him for narration this next year. He just tells me his favorite part of the story. Sometimes I'll ask him some simple questions just to give him some experience coming up with answers, but nothing major. I don't have any agenda in mind as I talk to him... just getting him used to talking about what he's read.