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okay beginning narrations for 6yo?
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We started year 1 officially this week. This is the first time I’m having my 6 yo do narrations, although he has always listened well to most of our read alouds.
For day 1, we read the first story of the Winnie the Pooh Tales about WTP trying to use a balloon to get honey out of a tree. My ds was wanting to play with a toy during the reading, so I let him as long as he was paying attention. Every few paragraphs I stopped and asked him what was happening in the story. I would have to give clues like “was WTP going up or down the stairs” , “what was WTP using to get to the honey”, “what color was the balloon”, etc…. He answered the questions correctly throughout the story, although he couldn’t do a summary without the questions first. At the end I asked his favorite part and he said “When Christopher Robin shot down the balloon with his gun”.
Today, day 2, we read a history selection about Vikings (Eric the Red, Leif the Lucky, and their journeys that led to Leif landing on North American soil…something that I don’t remember learning in school, lol). If I asked him every few paragraphs what was happening, he wouldn’t answer. If I asked questions like “what kind of ships did the Vikings make?”, “what country did Eric the Red start in and then discover”, etc…. he would answer these correctly. At first he was playing with a toy when listening, but less than halfway through he sat on the sofa with me because the story interested him. After completion of the story, I asked him for either 2 things that were his favorite in the story or that he remembered most. He replied, “I liked the part about Eric the Red having really strong fists to build with and I liked the part where Leif became lucky”.
He turned 6 last May and again these are our first attempts at narration. Are we on target with the above examples starting out? Or do we have a long way to go to be on target per CM standards?
Thanks in advance.
I’d say that this would be normal for first narrations – but don’t ask the questions…. that is easier than narrating, and will lead him to just wanting to do that….
How I got my son narrating when he was young, was to do start a silly narration (or question…) For Winnie the Pooh, for instance, I might say “So let’s see, there was a dog named Rover and he….” and my son would go “No it was a Bear named Winnie!” – “oh, that’s right… so let’s see… Winnie was taking a rocket to mars…” “No – he wanted to get some honey!” “Right! Wow, what else happened? I seem to be confused!”…..
My son of course knew I was being Silly – but it got him narrating without me asking direct questions.
It is much easier to answer “What did Winnie use to get the honey” “A Balloon” than it is to come up with “Winnie the Pooh wanted to get honey, but it was so high up that he couldn’t without help so he found a red balloon and hung on to it so it would float him up to the honey”…..
This sounds pretty similar to the narrations that my dd gave when we started out. She’s made a lot of improvement though. We’ve used Aesop’s Fables this year specifically for narration practice and she’s done really well with that, which is now starting to show in her narrations of other books.
I have to use questions to draw her out sometimes, but I try to avoid using questions that are too direct/pointed. I think there’s a fine line between helping a child get the ball rolling and straying over into the region of ‘comprehension questions’. I might ask her why she liked a certain part, what happened next, how something happened, etc. Or I might start the narration and then let her continue it. But I’ve had to really resist the temptation to try and draw specific facts and details out of her. I’ve seen the greatest progress by keeping it low pressure, not worrying about what she doesn’t know, modelling, and the occasional gentle use of open-ended questions.
HTH some,
Jen
Narration takes a bit of learning, for both the teacher and the student! DD(almost 7) and I have been working at it for about 18 months, and it’s been an effort for both of us to learn the skill!
Instead of using questions, what I did at the beginning was do a bit of back and forth, telling the story together. I would start with a sentence or two, and then either ask “Then what?” or just look at her expectantly to give her a chance to tell what she remembered. If she stopped midway, I’d throw in another sentence or phrase, which would twig her memory and get her rolling again. It made it more relaxed and natural than just asking “Tell me everything”. Questions like “What else?” “Anything more?” “Really? Why?” etc. are also great to encourage a narrator.
I also found that sometimes the idea of stopping in the middle of the story was more of a distraction. She can sometimes give a much more detailed narration of the whole story, rather than narrating 3 shorter sections. I think it’s useful to do it both ways.
The BEST narrations my daughter gives are when she can draw a picture about the story as she listens. Then she tells me about the picture. That’s her learning style, though. My DS(5) isn’t narrating yet, but when he does, he would think I was torturing him if I asked him to draw a picture. LOL
Joanne
My 6yo’s narrations are pretty similar to what you described. So far the best non-leading question that I’ve used with him is simply to ask him to tell me one thing that he remembers from the story. He can usually give me a complete sentence (albeit a short one 🙂 ). I was just thinking today that maybe if we discuss what we’ve just read a bit before asking him to tell me what he remembers, I might get more out of him, but we haven’t actually tried that yet.
Thank you ladies, as this gives alot of guidance in how to progress to more independance in ds eventually coming up with his own story/connections about the reading. I will ask more open ended questions (at lesser intervals in the reading as we get more practice), as well as try sharing doing the narration with him in this learning period. I was thinking before beginning that I would try having him illustrate the passage then explain the picture to me at some point (maybe sooner vs. later?). I do have Aesop’s fables planned for read aloud/narration later in the year, and hope narration will be natural for him with that. Yes, there is a learning curve for both parent and child! We are easing into this week slowly (alternating doing math/phonics/extras), hoping to do the full planned curriculum once I get the hang of presenting the material and ds gets the hang of what’s expected of him in the lessons. I am blessed that even though he LOVED public school K and he knows ps starts tomorrow, he is just as content with the CM school-style we started this week.
Ahhh…this thread makes me feel better. My boys are 5 & 6 (will be 6 & 7 in October) and we’re struggling a bit with this. I think I am asking too many questions. My 5 year old finally did a little bit tonight. We’re on our 4th week and this is the first time he didn’t refuse to at least tell me a little. So I’m guessing it will just take time.
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