Blown away by dd6's 1st narration - how LONG should these be?

[Alaska Mom]

I'm new to narrations and dd6 did her first one on a completed book this morning. We've been reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in evenings, and finished last night.

I explained to her the process of "narrations" and told her to tell me about the book: well, she went into such detail I had to stop writing! I mean she was quoting me dialogues like "Mr. Wonka then said "Get into the elevator, quickly, quickly, come on now we must go". She went on and on and on! I just sat there completely stunned by her memory, partly because there were parts I hardly remembered at all and she's giving the dialogue! I'm now second guessing my thought that she was a "visual" learner and wondering now if she's "auditory" - it was amazing. I guess I'll never question again if she's listening! The only struggle was she had a hard time with remembering the names of the other children (dh & I are both terrible with names, so maybe that's a genetic thing!).

IS THIS NORMAL? :confused::confused::confused: How long are these narrations supposed to be - how should I direct her from here? Do I let her go on with talking, and just write a couple of things that she says? I thought the written narrative was supposed to be in "her" words, but I couldn't keep up, I ended up "summarizing" her words into my own written words. Does this make sense to anyone?

Really appreciate anyone's help with this....:)

[laylamcb]

Strangely,...yes. It is normal. My 66yo dd does the same thing. Freaky, isn't it?? (Memory is wasted on the young, isn't it? Oy vey.... ;))

Here' (http://www.amblesideonline.org/Narration.shtml)s (http://www.amblesideonline.org/Narration.shtml) a little more info on narration from the Ambleside website.

Good job, Mom, for picking a book that spoke to her!!

:001_smile:

[MamaMamaMama!!]

Um, that is exceptional! Really. If it were my kiddos (which its not, its like pulling teeth to get them to talk about what we read) I would let her go on and on (just dont write down EVERY Narration) and let her explore her natural communication skills. :) zbut that's my humble opinion..

[jojomojo]

I Do I let her go on with talking, and just write a couple of things that she says? I thought the written narrative was supposed to be in "her" words, but I couldn't keep up, I ended up "summarizing" her words into my own written words. Does this make sense to anyone?

Really appreciate anyone's help with this....:)

You could try setting up a recorder instead of taking it all down yourself as she says it.

Sounds like she's doing great! Kids memories amaze me lol

[Dawn in OH]

My children either remember EVERYTHING and can go on forever, or remember nothing at all. They seem to never land in between.

We read and then watched Hamlet because we were preparing to go see the play. Both kids (5 & 7) remembered everything about the play. Who was who, who died and how, you name it.

We spent 2 hours discussing symmetry yesterday. Watched a video. Did some hands on stuff. Dad comes home and asks them about Symmetry. Nothing. They remember nothing.

[Alaska Mom]

Thanks Leila - great help there!

[Alaska Mom]

My children either remember EVERYTHING and can go on forever, or remember nothing at all. They seem to never land in between.

We read and then watched Hamlet because we were preparing to go see the play. Both kids (5 & 7) remembered everything about the play. Who was who, who died and how, you name it.

We spent 2 hours discussing symmetry yesterday. Watched a video. Did some hands on stuff. Dad comes home and asks them about Symmetry. Nothing. They remember nothing.

That's funny!!!

[laylamcb]

Thanks Leila - great help there!

No problem! I was just looking at your two kidlets in your sig: Too bad that you're so far away because I've got their dopplegangers right here! Nature Girl and Destructo-Boy would LOVE your extreme sports gal and truck-n-train guy. ;)

[dcjlkplus3]

I'm new to narrations and dd6 did her first one on a completed book this morning. We've been reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in evenings, and finished last night.

I explained to her the process of "narrations" and told her to tell me about the book: well, she went into such detail I had to stop writing! I mean she was quoting me dialogues like "Mr. Wonka then said "Get into the elevator, quickly, quickly, come on now we must go". She went on and on and on! I just sat there completely stunned by her memory, partly because there were parts I hardly remembered at all and she's giving the dialogue! I'm now second guessing my thought that she was a "visual" learner and wondering now if she's "auditory" - it was amazing. I guess I'll never question again if she's listening! The only struggle was she had a hard time with remembering the names of the other children (dh & I are both terrible with names, so maybe that's a genetic thing!).

IS THIS NORMAL? :confused::confused::confused: How long are these narrations supposed to be - how should I direct her from here? Do I let her go on with talking, and just write a couple of things that she says? I thought the written narrative was supposed to be in "her" words, but I couldn't keep up, I ended up "summarizing" her words into my own written words. Does this make sense to anyone?

Really appreciate anyone's help with this....:)

This is exellent reading comprehension, but not narration. A narration should be brief and more of a summary. For instance 2-4 sentence on a section of history. Doing a narration of a whole book seems like a lot for her age.

[abbeyej]

Yes, getting kids to *summarize*, not repeat verbatim is often the trouble. There's nothing wrong with retelling the story in great detail *sometimes*, but it's also important that they learn that skill of summary.

I work with the kids to figure out how to give a narration in about three sentences. Often this means asking leading questions (Who is the story about? What did they do? What was the end result?), and then talking them back through the narration.

This really is a more advanced skill than simply repeating what they've heard. It requires picking out the most important elements of the story and discarding the rest. And those are difficult distinctions to make.

[Lori in MS]

My son will also go into great detail and remember stories word for word with voice inflection and everything. He did this when we listened to the SOTW cds. He'd listened to it several times (ahead of where we were reading) and when I'd ask for a narration he'd practically quote the whole thing!

I found it helpful to do a shorter passage for narration (Like an Aesop fable), but I still let them tell me everthing they know about our history or science just for fun and to see what they remember. Now that they are older we do oral narrations after we read, but they write their own summaries at a separate time on their own.

[CookieMonster]

I'm new to narrations and dd6 did her first one on a completed book this morning. We've been reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in evenings, and finished last night.

:)

Aye, here's the rub! You asked her to narrate about an entire book, Sweetie. If you'd of asked me to narrate about an entire book, I could have filled three pages without blinking at that age.

As a comparison, I asked my five-year-old brother to narrate on a short imaginative story (about 20 pages long). His narration was ten good, full sentences. (And he didn't even want to do the narration.)

[laylamcb]

I found that a great way to begin narration was with Aesop's Fables (I have the Milo Winter edition). You've got your short, plot-driven storyline, you've got your animal interest...perfect for that age. From Aesop's Fables, we've moved on to narrating sections of chapters and then whole chapters (a book like Fifty Famous Stories Retold is really good for this). It has taken a while to break my 6yo of the "retelling" habit--sometimes she still does it, verbatim. (I really don't know how they do that.)

[Goldilocks]

Using shorter passages has helped us with narrations. When reading a book like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory I would stop after one "event" in the story and ask my children to tell me about what just happened. Since it is a short section it is easy to help them make it into one or two sentences.

[Starr]

I have one that just loves the details! I wish I'd spent more time when he was young getting those narrations down to several sentences. We are still working on it. Just think when she can read the whole book she can tell you the whole story and you won't have to read it. :)

[WTMindy]

Yes, getting kids to *summarize*, not repeat verbatim is often the trouble. There's nothing wrong with retelling the story in great detail *sometimes*, but it's also important that they learn that skill of summary.

I work with the kids to figure out how to give a narration in about three sentences. Often this means asking leading questions (Who is the story about? What did they do? What was the end result?), and then talking them back through the narration.

This really is a more advanced skill than simply repeating what they've heard. It requires picking out the most important elements of the story and discarding the rest. And those are difficult distinctions to make.

Yup, this is what we do also!!

[Alaska Mom]

No problem! I was just looking at your two kidlets in your sig: Too bad that you're so far away because I've got their dopplegangers right here! Nature Girl and Destructo-Boy would LOVE your extreme sports gal and truck-n-train guy. ;)

Drats! Halibut fishing dh would love your fly fisher guy!

[Miss Sherry]

I think it's wonderful that she was able to remember so much detail. I do think it would be good to get her to practice summarizing and sorting out what the most important details to remember are.