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Narrating picture books?

Name: CHEC Rocky Mountain Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-06-12T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-06-14T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Denver, CO

Tagged: early grades, narration

This topic has 4 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 10 months ago by Karen Smith.

Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

Author
Posts
July 29, 2016 at 6:55 pm
Alysee123
Participant
We will be starting narration in September and I’m wondering how narration works with picture books? Would you read the whole book in one sitting? Just read as much as you can in 7-10 minutes and then have them narrate? Or are chapter books preferable for narration?

July 29, 2016 at 9:56 pm
alphabetika
Participant
Well, I can’t actually answer your question because my daughter hasn’t narrated from a picture book, though I think it’s a good idea. But I wanted to comment on your reading time frame. I’m not sure about others, but we started with about 2 – 3 minutes of reading before narrating, or sometimes even shorter. In a chapter book, about a paragraph or two. Anything longer would have been too difficult for my daughter. I’ll be interested to read other comments.
July 30, 2016 at 7:29 am
Sonya Shafer
Moderator
Picture books can vary widely in the amount of text per page, so it’s hard to give a definite answer. Can you give us a couple of examples of books you have in mind?
(By the way, I’m assuming the child is at least six years old. Narration should not be required before that age.)
July 30, 2016 at 7:36 am
Alysee123
Participant
Yes – he’s 6!
For example the Smithsonian Backyard books – 32 pages

July 30, 2016 at 9:26 am
Karen Smith
Moderator
For the Smithsonian Backyard books I would read the whole book before asking my child to narrate. If I found that my child struggled with narration with waiting until the end of the book, then I would shorten the amount read before asking for a narration. Maybe read half the book, ask for a narration, read the last half, ask for a narration.