How offten for written narrations in 7th and 5th grade

[fairy4tmama]

I am looking for opinions. I am wondering how often others ask for written narrations from their 7th and 5th graders for books that they are in  the process of reading?

 

 

Edited March 18, 2016 by fairy4tmama

[tmstranger]

I have a 6th grader.  I do not ask him to do written narrations for many books b/c I want him to enjoy reading them.  So far this school year, he has done written narrations for 2 books.  He did a narration after each days reading and at the end of the book, he wrote an "opinion" piece about the book. 

 

I have him do oral narrations for most other books, so I can make sure he is understanding them and we can discuss the books.

[SilverMoon]

Never. We just discuss them and move on.

[Pink and Green Mom]

My son is in 5th.  For the books he reads for his literature class (through co-op), I have him write a summary after each chapter or two (and by summary I mean 2-3 sentences about the main thing happening).  For books he reads on his own or other books I assign (as part of history or just because I think he should read them), I don't require any. 

 

My older (8th grade) son is not homeschooled but I can tell you what he is required to do in school.  They read a book a marking period (ex. - To Kill a Mockingbird, The Book Thief, Rocket Boys, Rifles for Watie - to give you an idea of the kind of books I am talking about).  They do "study guides" (short essay questions) by chapter as assigned by the teacher, but after each book they are required to write a book review of at least 5 paragraphs (he follows the IEW model - one paragraph of basic book information, one paragraph describing setting and main characters, one paragraph describing the conflict, one paragraph describing the resolution, one paragraph as to why you would recommend/not recommend).

 

[regentrude]

Never. We just talked about the books.

Any writing assignments went deeper than mere narrations.

Edited March 18, 2016 by regentrude

[Bluegoat]

I think it depends where they start.  If grade 5 is the beginning of written narrations, I would start with one a week.  I'd increase that based on how it is going.

  The student is learning to put what was previously mastered orally in written form.

 

 

By grade 7 I would start making them more complex - not just retelling but for at least some, more analysis - compare and contrast, make an argument, that kind of thing.  But then since that will be a new skill, you don't want to be doing as many as with the simple narrations - maybe go back to one complex narration a week to begin.

 

Essentially every time there is a new skill, frequency should go down until there is some level of proficiency.

Edited March 18, 2016 by Bluegoat

[Farrar]

We aim for one written narration a week based on something nonfiction - an article or shorter book - that's read in one or occasionally two sittings. We do discussion a lot as well, but I've found narration is a great tool for getting them to pause, think, summarize, and recall. Lately we've been reading a lot of philosophy stuff and instead of narrations, we do more of a reader response. But it just depends. We don't do anything with narrations. They're purely process oriented. Longer writing assignments are less often - more like once a month, BW style - and are more in depth and involve revisions.

[Pink and Green Mom]

Thank you all for this thread because I am realizing that although I recently listened to SWB's older (2011ish) writing for middle school I'm not really putting it in practice.  She recommends (like others have said) doing narrations 2-3x week for history/science materials, and using works of fiction to do more literary analysis.  If my notes are correct she said starting in 5th grade students should start to do some basic literary analysis writing 1x/week. Things like who is the book about, what is the conflict, what does the main character want, what is keeping them from getting it, etc. I believe WTM has a list of these questions in the logic section.

 

Now I realize I need to step it up after next week's Spring Break.  Thank you for the reminder.

Edited March 18, 2016 by Pink and Green Mom

[stlily]

I highly recommend her talk on the Great Books. I almost found it a little more helpful than the middle school writing talk.  They are both excellent, really.  My 6th grade is reading through the recommended reading list in TWTM and writing a summary after she finishes the book that includes a 2 sentence evaluation.  Each week she writes a report for science using 2 sources, 3/4- 1 pg. long, a summary on a history topic 1/2 -1 pg. long, and a 2-level outline on up to 2 pages (5-10 paragraphs) on a chosen topic.These summaries and reports have taken the place of the written narrations she did in the grammar stage.  Also, she doesn't write an outline for both history and science every week.  She alternates. 

 

At the beginning of the school year, I had her read for 30 minutes from a book on her list and then write a narration. In her Great Books talk, SWB emphasizes not killing their love for reading by making them write about every book they read so I cut out the daily written narrations.  Hope this helps.

[deerforest]

Never. We just talked about the books.

Any writing assignments went deeper than mere narrations.

This is us too.

[fairy4tmama]

Thanks for all the feedback it was genuinely helpful to see various perspectives on this topic!