Narrating and getting through the reading

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  • Sara B.
    Participant

    My dd is 6yo, and she is not good at narrations at all.  I do realize this is normal at this age.  I’ve been reading an entire chapter/section, then asking for her fave part, or tell me about ____, or give me one thing you remember from the story.  But she mostly says “I don’t know,” or “I forgot.”  So as I searched the forum looking for some more direction, I found that I should only do a few sentences or a couple paragraphs and ask for a narration.  Pray tell, *how* do you get through the entire reading in just 10 min. if I’m constantly stopping to ask her about what I just read?  I am so confused by this.  My 7yo is not too bad at narrations, for only having started this past fall, but I am afraid I’d lose her attention completely if I’m constantly stopping for her sister’s sake (we do nearly everything together).

    Thanks, all!

    Sara  🙂

    suzukimom
    Participant

    Hm….  maybe she needs a book of her own, to practice and learn narration with?   She might learn a lot on how to narrate from her sibling…. or she might be scared to narrate if they are doing better at it…   So maybe having 1 for her to practice specifically with, that her sibling doesn’t read?

    Good Morning Sara!

    I am NOT a CM expert but let me tell you what we do. I started like you and then when realized it was not working I slowed it way down with short stories. I used several of the Aesops Fables and any other little books we had around here. I even used the little Golden books that she’s had since she was 2! I was trying to build confidence to show her that she could do this. We did this for a couple of months every school day. And then with chapter books, I would just find a really good paragraph (or two) DURING our reading- a passage with a lot of description of something that was done- and stop and have her narrate that to me. Something funny I have noticed, even now at 7yrs, she tends to freeze and can’t remember much if I use the term “narrate”! It cracks me up! I now will say something like “ok, tell me everything you know about THIS LITTLE BIT we just read.” If she doesn’t say enough I will ask her “is there one more thing you can tell me?” And sometimes after she gets started I will tell her it’s my turn and offer one more little thing and then tell her “your turn!” And we will go back and forth like that till she tells me all she knows. Try to keep it lite because pressure will shut mine down!
    Shelly

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