Question about beginning narration

Hi, hugabug1!  Cute name!

Some ideas to consider when beginning narration:

Select a passage, whether it is several sentences or a paragraph or so, that has something happen.  You really don’t want to begin narration with theoretical treatises on stuff.  Not that most young students are reading much of that, but still–look for something in story form.  Perhaps something with a beginning, middle, end that isn’t too long.  Then just ask them to tell you what happened.  Listen, and give a positive comment, and then continue reading–then YOU pick a section that has a beginning, middle, end, and YOU  narrate it–model what you want.  Ask him what he thinks of YOUR narration or “telling back”  Keep your reading time short, no longer than 15 minutes at first, and stop if you have lost his attention, and come back later if necessary.  Do this as long as necessary.  You’ll wear a little 6yo out if you want a narration on every paragraph of all his books, and we don’t want to discourage them!  So start like this, and as he improves, ask for a little more, over longer sections.  Start with the books easiest to narrate, and then gradually expand to other things as he picks up confidence.  Occasionally tell him that you are going to want him to tell this part to Daddy, and ask him to do that later in the day when Daddy is around.  Mine liked to make a little drawing of whatever happened and show it to Daddy when they told him.  It is OK to ask for an occasional drawing or other form of narration–spice it up.  You don’t want to pester with a ton of questions–Charlotte said that was fatiguing and frustrating for a child–but once in a while instead of just “telling back” you can ask “What was your favorite thing that happened?  What would YOU do? ” etc.

One other thing–I am  rather of the opinion that Aesop’s Fables just might have been saved through the ages for us to use as a beginning narration primer–if my kids had trouble narrating their literature book or their history book, we’d “practice” on a few fables, and it always seemed they could then do better.  Also, tell him why you are having him do this–I found out that one of my kids was having a rocky start with narrating, and was resisting a little, and it turned out I’d forgotten to tell him what a special thing narration was and how it was going to help him.  We spent a little time on that, he looked at me for a minute and said “Oh!” and did much better after that!  LOL  Since I have always-hungry boys, Charlotte’s food analogies always appealed here, and I’d freely adapt a little and tell them a story about a big dinner I might serve, with all their favorite foods, and ask them what they’d choose and why, and how it would taste, and would they remember it?  Then I’d tell them to think of their books as “food for their minds” and I wanted to know what “dishes” they took in, and what they thought of them.  They’d always grin.  This made sense to them.  Maybe someone else would need another “story” but in my house, food cements learning.  LOL