Narration question: Please help!

[ABQmom]

I'm trying to be more diligent with narration (WTM style) this year with my two youngest dc. I understand helping them put their thoughts into complete sentences. But, what if they give you a complete sentence that is just bad? What if it is grammatically correct, but could be said better? Do you just go ahead and write down what they say? Or, do you help them make a better sentence?

[Alana in Canada]

I always helped my kids come up with a better setence. Why let them develop bad habits? Besides, nrrations are a teaching tool--so I took full permission to teach them. Sometimes when they were really on a roll with the narration I may not slow down to verbally correct them: but I may write the sentence down properly.

 

A good thing to do is have the child read it back to you, as well. That way they will "hear" it correctly. As well, when time comes for them to copy out what you have written: you don't want them copying bad sentences. So, for all those reasons, we would discuss it, they would begin their narrations and I would scribe and edit with them as we went.

 

But that was just us.

[ABQmom]

Thanks for your input. I think I would have to agree with what you've been doing.

 

Does anyone else have any suggestions?

[Pata]

:iagree: We do what Alana does. I may say, so your saying....and then restate her sentence in a more grammatically pleasing way. I'm having to do that less and less these days, so I'm guessing it works. Hope that helps!

[ABQmom]

Great, thank you. It helps to know you are doing it less and less. Must mean what you are doing is working.