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Unit 4 day 4. First really guided narration, by asking a question, writing a sentence and repeating. She's just turned 10.

In ancient times people settled down near rivers. The people built towns to farm and trade. The governments began by starting towns. We found out how people lived by reading their writings. Ancient times were hard.

I'll add my almost 8 yo's soon. We're just about to do his.

I've never done narration before Bigger last year. Just this year realized it was supposed to be a retelling and not summary. The above seems more like a summary. Do we offer any help if the sentence wasn't quite constructed right or the answer was wrong or not indepth enough?

I would love to hear the answer to this as well. Great question. I will say that your child's narration sounds just like my 10 year old sons summaries of his history extension readings.

But other than that, I look forward to some clarification on this as well.

I think that sounds wonderful! We're just finding our way through the written narrations in Preparing also. I don't think it is possible to give a good retelling of the story in 3-5 sentences without making it more of a summary. I think this is helping my detail oriented narrator really focus on the main idea of the reading. From reading the questions that are asked in the TM, I think the idea is to make it more of a summary narration than a detailed one. I could be wrong though!

Sounds great!!

Ladies,

I agree that a child's first attempts at written narration will definitely sound more like a summary than a true written narration done in the style of the author. This is due to the fact that the skill is new, the number of sentences used is very small, and the transition from oral to written narration almost always results in short, succinct narrations (at first).

What you will find though, as the year progresses, is that your narrators will get more and more creative with their sentences. The sentence length will grow considerably and include many more descriptive words, and the child will start borrowing the wording and phrasing the author used (much as he/she did when he/she was orally narrating). The children gain so much in this area!

Your child's first attempts are very good! If the child is in error in the facts, have her refer back to the text (with your help) to correct any misinformation. Otherwise, utilize the Written Narration Tips and Skills lists in the Appendix as a guide for the rest.

Blessings,
Carrie