OrganicMom Posted December 7, 2012 Share Posted December 7, 2012 Getting a narration from my daughter is difficult. It shows two things: one, that this is what we should be focusing on and two, I need help! :) She will memorize sentences or facts from what we are reading but it is SO hard for her to give me a complete sentence or even one in her own words... sometimes even though she has a fact she wants to say it is difficult for her to put it into a sentence. I am realizing that i had the very same weaknesses when I was her age AND BEYOND - still a weak area for me. right now we are doing tons of reading-aloud, and working on speaking in complete sentences to one another ;) but I can see her brain get a traffic jam in it, often. even if we are doing math sometimes too... If someone can just point me in the right direction to more training in this area of how to break down the process or additional words I can use to help frame what she should do... how much should i be helping her form a sentence on her own? what should I correct? should I tell her a better way to form it once she does? I wanted to add: we are doing WWE1 and SOTW 1 - the history lesson is when we are having the most difficulty. probably b/c she is able to just give me one simple sentence from writing (one thing she remembered), where in the history lesson, it's more summarizing? maybe this is why it is more difficult? not sure where to adjust things to her level so she is actively working on this skill - not getting too overwhelmed to shoot above what she can do and not learning or stretching this skill... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clear Creek Posted December 7, 2012 Share Posted December 7, 2012 Do you have the activity guide that goes along with SOTW? If so, are you asking her the questions in there about the reading before asking for a narration? If not, start by reading one section at a time, and at the end of the section ask her some questions about what you just read. After you have discussed it, then ask for a narration. I started out with narrations with my kids by asking what their favorite part was, or who their favorite character was...I just wanted them to recall a fact from the reading and give a small amount of information about it. When they were good at that, I would ask them for their favorite part, then I would ask them to tell me about a specific event in their own words (again, not the whole section, just one small event). We gradually increased the narrations from there; by the time we were in SOTW3 my older daughter (4th grade) could give an excellent oral narration and a good written summary; my younger daughter (2nd grade) could give me a good oral narration. As far as modeling complete sentences, after she tells you her favorite part you can repeat it back to her in a complete sentence. (i.e. "Yes, So-and-so did XYZ.") Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrganicMom Posted December 7, 2012 Author Share Posted December 7, 2012 Yes, I am doing one section at a time. Reading with pauses in-between to set the picture for what is going on and make sure she is following, questions at the end, and then going from there... I do have the activity guide, thankfully! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clear Creek Posted December 7, 2012 Share Posted December 7, 2012 Then I guess just keep plugging away and modeling sentences for her...there will be progress, but there is a reason that SWB spread the entire process of going from giving one fact about what was read to a written narration over four years...it takes just about that long for kids to get it! And I understand the struggle with getting an answer in complete sentences. I had one kid who wanted to give one or two-word answers, and the other wanted to repeat back verbatim what I just read. One thing I did that helped with narrations was to practice it with everything my kids read or that I read to them. Whether it was a picture book or a chapter book, my kids were used to me asking what their favorite part was, who their favorite character was, and to tell me what happened in the story. I did it so much that it became a habit for them to discuss what they read with me (they actually thought that I was very interested in what they read and wanted to hear what it was all about!), and to this day they come find me when they are finished with a book so that they can tell me all about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrganicMom Posted December 7, 2012 Author Share Posted December 7, 2012 Thank you for that perspective!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrganicMom Posted December 7, 2012 Author Share Posted December 7, 2012 Then I guess just keep plugging away and modeling sentences for her...there will be progress, but there is a reason that SWB spread the entire process of going from giving one fact about what was read to a written narration over four years...it takes just about that long for kids to get it! And I understand the struggle with getting an answer in complete sentences. I had one kid who wanted to give one or two-word answers, and the other wanted to repeat back verbatim what I just read. One thing I did that helped with narrations was to practice it with everything my kids read or that I read to them. Whether it was a picture book or a chapter book, my kids were used to me asking what their favorite part was, who their favorite character was, and to tell me what happened in the story. I did it so much that it became a habit for them to discuss what they read with me (they actually thought that I was very interested in what they read and wanted to hear what it was all about!), and to this day they come find me when they are finished with a book so that they can tell me all about it. I needed to hear that I am least on the right track. My child is exactly like both of your children - just depending on the day! :D I think I WILL increase the little doable questions so that she is practicing telling me her favorite parts, etc.. but not in a way that would be too overwhelming or too much for her that it becomes discouraging.... thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrganicMom Posted December 7, 2012 Author Share Posted December 7, 2012 So it IS OK then to modify her sentences for written narration then? coach her along? this is what I had been doing, but want her to grow those muscles, too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clear Creek Posted December 7, 2012 Share Posted December 7, 2012 So it IS OK then to modify her sentences for written narration then? coach her along? this is what I had been doing, but want her to grow those muscles, too... By all means! She will learn best by example. I am using a lot of Memoria Press materials, and the instructions for the 3rd grade Lit and Greek Myths say for the teacher to discuss each question aloud, and then form a complete sentence answer together, which the teacher (if in front of a class) should write on the board for the students to copy into their book. I basically do this with my daughter for each question (minus writing it on the board; I am right there next to her so I can just correct mistakes as she writes). I don't recall exactly, but I believe the instructions say to do this with all students up to fourth grade, and at some point during fourth grade the students should be able to write down answers in complete sentences. If it makes you feel better, my 5th grader has days where she still can't write complete sentence answers and I still have to help her with it. I swear, that girl thinks in fragments! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyhomemaker Posted December 7, 2012 Share Posted December 7, 2012 Personally, I make the narrations for SOTW mirror whatever the kids are doing in WWE. So if you're doing WWE1 and writing down one thing you remember for the narrations, I would do the same thing for SOTW. Next year in WWE2 you will get to actual narrative summaries and that's when I incorporated that into SOTW. I'm just coming from the perspective that if they're not ready for summaries in WWE, why would they be ready for them in SOTW which has longer passages? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourisenough Posted December 7, 2012 Share Posted December 7, 2012 Personally, I make the narrations for SOTW mirror whatever the kids are doing in WWE. So if you're doing WWE1 and writing down one thing you remember for the narrations, I would do the same thing for SOTW. Next year in WWE2 you will get to actual narrative summaries and that's when I incorporated that into SOTW. I'm just coming from the perspective that if they're not ready for summaries in WWE, why would they be ready for them in SOTW which has longer passages? This is, more or less, what I was going to say. Keep the history narrations in keeping with the WWE work so that she has a consistent expectation. She'll eventually improve her ability to remember and express that thought in a complete sentence, but it will take time and lots, and lots of practice! I recently said on another thread that my daughter, who is nearly finished with WWE 2, answers every question I ask her with a complete sentence, even mundane things like, "Where is your sister?" She might reply, "Harriet is in the basement getting her swim bag." I attribute this largely to use of WWE! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnib Posted December 7, 2012 Share Posted December 7, 2012 If she gives you an incomplete sentence for WWE, first say the answer as a complete sentence yourself, then have her repeat it. You: "What did the wizard find under the rock?" DD: "Gold." You: "The wizard found gold, that's correct. Can you say it in the complete sentence 'The wizard found gold'? DD: "The wizard found gold." Also, stick with nouns for the subject and move to pronouns later. So the model in this example uses "the wizard" as the subject, not "he". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FO4UR Posted December 8, 2012 Share Posted December 8, 2012 I have found it helps to do less questioning, and just let the child retell what they remember from the story. If you are asking a question, do not ask a question that can be answered in a single word or phrase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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