What do you recommend after you read aloud books?

[brewer13399]

We are getting close to being half way through our first assigned read aloud book and I was wonder what you have your kids do after you have read a book? Book report, discuss it, narrate it back or what? We have been reading Mrs. Piggles-Wiggles and we discuss as we read it but I was trying to decide what to have them do if anything after we read a book together so I make sure they are listening, understanding, building retell skills, etc. They are 6 (going into 1st) and 7 years old (going into 2nd).

[MelanieM]

We usually discuss as we go along, and (very loosely) narrate via a recap of the previous section before starting a new one. Occasionally we'll spin off into further related activities, whether that be science experiments, art projects, lapbooks, etc.

 

Discussing and narrating is enough to let me know whether or not the kids are listening and understanding what we're reading. I see no need to go further than that with littles.

Edited June 14, 2010 by MelanieM

[Cynful]

At those ages, I wouldn't do anything besides discuss as you go and some narration. One other thing we've done for years and years, for all books, I make a copy of the cover on my printer, date them and keep them in a binder. We love looking back on the books we've read and we remember (narrate) back what the book was about. It's a great review and fun.

[brewer13399]

I was kind of thinking the same thing. When do you think they should have to write a book report? Maybe when they are reading them by themselves?

[brewer13399]

At those ages, I wouldn't do anything besides discuss as you go and some narration. One other thing we've done for years and years, for all books, I make a copy of the cover on my printer, date them and keep them in a binder. We love looking back on the books we've read and we remember (narrate) back what the book was about. It's a great review and fun.

 

That is a GREAT idea, I think we will do that!!:iagree:

[FO4UR]

We tell Daddy about it. (narrate)

 

For Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, I'd ask which child was their most/least favorite...and laugh about it over snack. I don't want my dc to see read-alouds as "school" just yet...so as long as the fun path works well, that's the one I choose.

[Evergreen Academy]

We have been doing read-alouds for all the years we've been homeschooling (and before), and here they are purely for fun (though I sneak in historical fiction!). History class readings, they narrate or write about. Independent reading, an occasional written narration for a child over 10, oral narrations for younger children. Read-alouds, pure cozy time, discussion time at the end of each reading session, begging for another chapter time.

 

We just finished Jip and while it had many lessons about character and kindness and slavery, etc, throughout, we discussed them as we went along. Tonight, when we finished, the kids talked. One ds9 thought it should have ended differently, another was surprised at the ending. I was trying not to cry, LOL. In any case, that's how it goes at our house.

Blessings,

Aimee

mom to 6 great kids ages 7-19, schooling grades 1, 3, 3, and 6

[Annie Laurie]

I find book reports unnecessary in a homeschool setting.

 

I have my children narrate what I read aloud from the non-fiction history spine, and from their readers, so I know that they read and understood it. Read alouds are just for enjoying here.

[nansk]

We read about half a chapter a day at bedtime. We discuss while reading (at critical junctures). I explain difficult words or if dd already knows the word, I ask her the meaning of it. I also ask comprehension-type questions occasionally.

 

If I can find colouring pages online, I print them out for her to colour during the day. If I can't find any, I just ask her to draw a particular scene.

 

I may also type out a sentence for her to copy (at most one sentence a day) or one for her to capitalize and punctuate or ask her to point out the nouns, verbs and articles in one.

 

We have to make sure the work is not too much to kill their joy of reading; at the same time, make sure read aloud does not become mere passive listening.

 

HTH

[crazyforlatin]

I use WWE1 for narration, but all other books I don't require it, unless it's for science or history (SOTW1). I find that DD5 will naturally want to talk about the story for a couple of days if the story is exciting or memorable (e.g. Narnia, Harry Potter, Thornton Burgess' books).

[Soror]

ITA w/ the above. We discuss during the book- I will ask him questions about the plot- not in a quiz sort of way- but in an excited- what do you think is going to happen- or what do you think about that? I give definitions if he asks or seems confused. We do narrations sometimes after the story but a lot of times readalouds are just for fun.

[NanceXToo]

My daughter did "book reports" in fourth grade (9 y/o) this past year- However she got to do them sort of creatively- like instead of just "write a book report about what this book was about" she'd do stuff like:

 

Make your own comic strip depicting a favorite scene in the book

Write a new ending to this book

Add in a new chapter or adventure to this book

Write a letter to a character in this book telling them what you think about their behavior

Make a storyboard

 

In a case where we read a book about myths, she might be told "Now write your own creation myth."

 

That kind of thing. And it was never "do this and only this," it was "you have a choice of doing this, or this" and she'd choose.

 

We also took vocabulary words from those assigned reading books (which we had one of approx every three weeks), if we came across a word she didn't recognize/understand/know, she'd tell me, and we'd jot it down and look it up. Earlier in the year it was just looking it up, later in the year it was writing it down in her "personal dictionary" (a notebook with pages headed A-Z).

 

I agree with those who said that at ages 6 and 7 I'd just discuss the book a bit with them, seeing where the discussion leads, maybe a little bit of narration, but mostly I'd just want them to enjoy the book :)

[Hedgehogs4]

we talk about the stories as a family, but i don't have them do anything special as an assignment. at this age, i just want them to LOVE reading and not feeling it has to be FOR any reason other than their own enjoyment. analysis will come later.

 

we are on book 5 of the Ralph Moody "Little Britches" series, and there is so much good stuff in there. character development alone is one of the keystones of the books, but there is also just good storytelling, tons of hard work ethics, love, self-control, old-fashioned community values...it all comes up.

[brewer13399]

THANK YOU all for the input!!!

 

I think I will just continue on like I was with just discussing the story as we go, talking about big words we hear and then at the end letting them tell me what they liked or didn't like about the story. I also think I will do the copy the cover idea and date it and put it in a binder so the boys can look back and see if they remember.

[VBoulden]

You could start a narration notebook. This is something I've started doing with my five year old just recently.

 

Note: It's a lot of work for you as the parent because your kids probably aren't doing a lot of handwriting yet. (Mine isn't, either). But, you could take turns with them... One kid could narrate a story back to you one day. The other kid could do a different story the next. Then, wait a week or two and do it again.

 

Narration works better for shorter stories, I've found. If you read only one chapter from a chapter book, it would not have a real beginning, middle and end. Maybe you could start narration when you start a different read aloud book with your kids, something like a compilation of fables or short stories.

 

I think it's really great to get even young kids exercising their minds to choose words and remember details, etc. There's time to wait, yes, but I figure, why wait? My daughter doesn't have to be great at something when I introduce it, right? She can grow into the skill. That's kind of the point of "school." ;)

 

I have been taking pictures and talking about my daughter's narration notebook on my blog, if you are interested. The link is below. I love our narration notebook! You could check it out and see if it is right for you. :001_smile:

 

http://www.veronicaboulden.com/search/label/Narration

[MelanieM]

Narration works better for shorter stories, I've found. If you read only one chapter from a chapter book, it would not have a real beginning, middle and end. Maybe you could start narration when you start a different read aloud book with your kids, something like a compilation of fables or short stories.

 

 

Actually, we've found narration with even very short passages of longer books to be a success. What we're going for is the main idea in the reading, not so much a summary of an entire story. WWE and SOTW (activity guide) have really helped me in my understanding and execution of narration.

 

I did just take a look at your blog and love the narration book! You daughter's drawings are amazing! :D

[Mom-ninja.]

I was kind of thinking the same thing. When do you think they should have to write a book report? Maybe when they are reading them by themselves?

 

Never. ;) You can read in TWTM or listen to SWB's audio lectures on literature and writing to understand why no book reports.

[Nancy in DC]

Just looking around for a book report form for my sixth-grader, and found this thread. Any chance anyone can expand on why no book reports? SWB recommends using the Book Report form in Writing Strands, Book 6, at least in my older version of TWTM. I don't have that Writing Strands and am trying not to buy it, but now I'm intrigued if I've missed something in SWB. Has she recanted this suggestion in the newer edition?

 

Any thoughts?

 

Thank you so much!

[Alicia]

I always try to see if the book is a FIAR (Five in a Row) title as I have about 75% of them by now, check the "Peak With Books" book, then http://www.homeschoolshare.com

I have found over the last 10 years or so that the kids love looking back on their work. It works as a sort of photo album for them. I like them to have something concrete to remember our good times. I get large sketch pads and use themto keep all our memories with lapbooking/notebooking our stories. I have a book for lit, history, ect. Like WTM light ;)

 

I like a previous poster also print the cover usually from Amazon.com and print it 1/4 size (saves ink) then we look for ideas from one of the places mentioned above.

We generally do activities at the end of the week or when I am trying to do housework but they still want to do schoolwork. I can help with an activity while folding, or sweeping ect. When I want something low key I just get coloring pages related to the the animals, place, types of people ect if I cant get exact pictures from the book. Activities can include paper crafts, vocab lists, mini research, cooking, word search, color sheets, maps, ect

For historical and science books like the d'Aulaire books I go through with the dc before we start and choose about 7 pages in order which we copy at 1/2 size and reduced ink. As I read they color the pages. They then give me 2-4 sentence "captions" for each picture. Number of sentences and complexity depends on childs age and how they are relating to the book. The sentences are put on a white board and we work on spelling, grammar, punctuation, work choice together. I leave the sentences up until they are copied. We have a few small white boards. We found them to be cheaper than one large one and more versatile. Ours are about the size of a king size bed pillow :).

7 pictures gives me 2-3 weeks to get through the book so that they have time to color and write "captions" without stress for any concerned. At the end of that time they have basically summarized the story/biography complete with illustrations with no pain involved. We have had time for rabbit trails, conversation and recipes, or just coloring and sentences. We also have made a memory, covered language arts skills, fine motor, and penmanship.

 

I love visiting the blogs of other moms to see what they have done but limit myself to a max of 4 pages (2 sheets of paper front and back) per book. I just need inspiration not competition;)

 

HTH

 

Alicia in New Zealand

Edited August 18, 2010 by Alicia
clarity, spelling d'Aulaire