Narrations ???

[mlktwins]

I have a couple of questions about narrations. My boys are 6.5 (1st grade). We are doing WWE 1 in which they write or narrate to me and I write down what they say. For SOTW 1, I was just having them narrate orally. I was re-reading the WTM last night and it says to make a page for narration for each section for SOTW. Are any of you doing the written narration for SOTW? Is it necessary if we are doing written narration in WWE? WTM also recommends doing narrations in a reading log, which I haven't been doing. We read a lot of extra books for history and science, nice picture books recommended from specific reading lists and our chapter book at night (currently Ralph S. Mouse). They also read for a period of time each day on their own. We talk about the stories we read, but I haven't had them do any formal written narrations. Should I start doing this with a couple of the extra books we read? I know not to do every book because I want reading to fun and want to foster their love of reading. They do a lot of physical writing for math, ETC, and handwriting.

[Sahamamama]

:lurk5:

[boscopup]

We do narrations (orally) in SOTW, and did in first grade also. We even did narrations for Bible. :) We did NOT do narrations for literature, and still don't. I'm trying to develop a love of reading, and I don't want to turn him off the good books by asking questions and such. We might informally discuss a book, especially if he seems to like it. Sometimes he'll even volunteer information if he really likes it (he did that a lot with Mrs. Piggle Wiggle when he read that).

 

This year, I've added notebooking in history and science. I'm currently writing the science stuff. He's writing one original sentence for history, though sometimes I'll let him dictate it to me and then copy it (did that today).

 

Basically, I gauge how much I require by what I think he can handle. In first grade, he could handle the oral narrations pretty well, but would not have done well if I'd asked him to also copy them at that point. He wasn't ready for that. In 2nd grade, he's able to copy a sentence in other subjects the same day as WWE. I try to look at how much he's writing overall in all subjects (including spelling, where he does dictated sentences at the white board), and I aim for him to write a certain amount each day. That amount in first grade was 1-2 sentences (working up to that!), and now in second grade he can do a lot more (usually 3 sentences at the white board for spelling, plus a couple sentences in other subjects such as WWE and history).

[FairProspects]

Yes, we do written narration pages for each section of SOTW. Ds 1 narrates a sentence, I write it down, and he copies it and illustrates the page with a picture from the section. At age 6, I wrote down the narration and he did not copy it, but just drew an illustration. Ds 2 (5 y.o.) will just draw a picture without narrating if he is sitting in with us.

 

We do the same for science - he narrates, I write it down, he copies it and draws diagrams (sometimes I abbreviate what he copies if it is a long narration).

 

We don't do narrations for literature. They just aren't necessary because ds is still reading everything with me and I know that he comprehends it or we stop and talk it through. When he is reading independently, assigned literature, then I will have him do narrations or summaries every once in awhile just to check that he's done the reading.

[kristinannie]

I would definitely not require written narrations of SOTW for a 1st grader. When my kids narrate (although it isn't mandated since they are young), I write down their narrations and put them into our notebooks. They like me to read the narrations to them later, especially once we have finished a topic. The sometimes also illustrate the narration if they want to.

[FairProspects]

That amount in first grade was 1-2 sentences (working up to that!), and now in second grade he can do a lot more (usually 3 sentences at the white board for spelling, plus a couple sentences in other subjects such as WWE and history).

 

Yeah, I got a shock the other day when I assigned ds to write lines for name calling. I assigned him 14 sentences to write out, thinking it would might hurt his hand a bit and be a nice little lesson. While I do think it was tedious and he didn't enjoy it, I learned his hand was much stronger than I had realized. :glare:

[boscopup]

Yeah, I got a shock the other day when I assigned ds to write lines for name calling. I assigned him 14 sentences to write out, thinking it would might hurt his hand a bit and be a nice little lesson. While I do think it was tedious and he didn't enjoy it, I learned his hand was much stronger than I had realized. :glare:

 

:lol: Yeah, I've done sentences for things like that too, though never that much! Ha! I do think my son is capable of doing more than I require of him now, but at the same time, he HATES writing, so I try to not force too much upon him. He tolerates what we do, and I gradually boil the frog. ;)

[Critterfixer]

At the age of the OP's children, I would do quite a bit of oral narrations and only require the copywork per WWE. I think it does help with teaching organization of material to work through multiple subjects with narration tailored to each discipline. The way we organize history is not necessarily the way we organize science or organize literature.

One way to do this narration is to set it up on the whiteboard as a narration lesson. No copywork needed unless one feels that a specific thing might be useful as a penmanship exercise.

[OrdinaryTime]

If you want to have a written record of oral narrations, I find my 1st grader really enjoys when I type as he narrates. Then we print it off and add it to his history or science binder (the subjects in which we do narrations). He loves that his "work" looks so much like a "real" book.

[brownie]

Heck I don't even usually ask my 6 year old to contribute to the SOTW narration. All 3 of mine have gone through WWE as it is written so we do individual narrations there. DS6 is the only one still in WWE (1).

 

Right now I have my 11 year old providing most of the SOTW narrations. I write on the dry erase board as he narrates. Then I read and critique what he narrated. Not to make that sound mean...he does beautiful narrations and serves as an excellent example for his younger brothers (9 and 6), which is why we do it. If he begins to add too much detail, I warn him he will run out of room (I limit to 4 sentences to force them to make good choices). I will point out the strong points and say things such as "adding xyz detail would have been acceptable instead of abc detail as well". That helps us to review. I will point out how he provided a setting, character, main issue and outcome.

 

Soon I will move onto the 9 year old attempting our narrations, but if my 6 year old merely chimes in with an answer to a question here and there, I am pleased. He really has other things to focus on (i.e. LA and math) and his day is long enough, so if he wants to color while he listens and pipe in once in awhile that's great. In 2nd grade I will expect more from him. Plus we're in SOTW 3 which I think is rough on a 1st grader. It is targeted at slightly older children unfortunately for my little guy.

 

Brownie