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Written Narrations…The Transition
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My oldest will be in 4th grade next year and I’m trying to think of how we will transition to written narrations. Do you typically have your children narrate things they read to themselves, as well as that which is read aloud to them? How many written narrations do you expect in a given week? I know this will be a process, but I do want to know how often we should work on this skill. Do we just continue with oral narrations on the days written ones are not required? How much material does a narration typically cover at this age?
Sorry to bombard you! Making plans…lol
My oh so untechnical way to transition:
1. Expect 1 written narration per week.
2. For the first few take their oral narration and type it as they speak. Then let them copy it over onto paper. Skip this step if you wish. Some won’t need it.
3. Have them write their weekly narration and praise praise praise! This is NOT the time to edit grammar, spelling, punctuation, or anything. This is time to enjoy what they wrote and let them realize it can be done.
4. Keep doing that for most of the year. Then gently begin to point out ONE and only one thing in the editing department if you do not do writing/composition elsewhere.
As you can see, my children still do a lot of oral narrations in 4th and 5th. My 6th grader now does more written narrations than oral.
That’s pretty much what we are doing.
I usually expect 1-2 written from my 10 yo, then the rest are oral. I still enjoy listening to him and he loves to tell back so we haven’t given that up yet. Plus, he’s still in the beginner stages of written. On a good day, or an “easier than other books to narrate book,” he can share 1-3 pages, double spaced. Sometimes it’s just a paragraph, so that’s why we continue the oral narrations.
My oldest does a combo of the above. I love to hear him tell back and encourage him to write as much as he tells, he’s getting better.
Thank you for asking this. My oldest will also be in 4th next year and I have been wondering the same thing.
Depends on your child. Honestly, with my children in 4th grade it is one chapter. My 6th grader can do a couple chapters in one narration or even a whole book.
Oooo, the other thing I wanted to be clear about – at least at my house – when I asked my 4th grader (now she’s 6th) to do a written narration she wrote SO MUCH LESS than she would have told in an oral narration. And that is 100% normal and okay! Writing on paper is hard work. Not only does a child have to do all the work of oral narration (putting ideas in order in their head, choosing words to say what they want to say) written narration adds in forming letters, spelling words, all while trying to hold those ideas in an organized fashion in your head. Naturally their written narrations are shorter in the beginning than oral narration would be. Give them time and over the first year or two of written narration you will begin to see longer written narrations.
Are we to expect it to be a certain length at minimum? One thing my dd despises is writing. She will talk talk talk all day long and loves to read though. 🙂
Tia, ds8 just began written narrations this year. He is currently doing them once per week, and only for our Bible readings, as suggested by SCM in Module 3. He has really done well, and has gone over and above the length I would have expected from a beginner. Sometimes he takes 20-30 minutes for one narration! I think for his age, once per week is plenty, and maybe next year we’ll transition to something else. I’m thinking once a week narration for something read to him and once a week for something he reads to himself, just to be practicing both skills. If your student is good at oral narration, it might help by explaining that you would want him to pretend that his written narrations are exactly like what he would say in an oral narration, except that he’s writing it down. Ds likes to make his narrations so detailed, that his hand gets tired from writing so much. Often, I have to tell him to take a break and then come back to finish his narration. That might help yours too, knowing that they don’t have to finish the whole thing in one sitting. Take it slow, don’t expect too much, and be prepared to give guidance (and word spellings) along the way!
Blessings,
Lindsey
P.S. As an example, here’s a blog I posted with a couple of ds’s written narrations from earlier in our school year: http://todayindietzville.blogspot.com/2012/09/written-narrations-mommas-bragging-on.html
Lindsay,
Thank you so much for posting that example! I loved how sweet it was! So precious. I read through your blog post and it helped me to think through what I need to do to prepare her for this step. I have more of a feel for how it will look…I plan on beginning the transition soon. She turned 9 in December and is ready…
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