Narrations-Oral or Written

[Patience]

We'll be doing Bigger this coming fall with my 7 year old boy, 9 year old girl (with some extensions). I am wondering if I should be having her do oral or written narrations. Or if I should do oral for the first half, and written for the second. She fits in to the skill level of Preparing. Just wondered if there is any "rule of thumb" out there or helpful advice.

Thanks!

[my3sons]

We'll be doing Bigger this coming fall with my 7 year old boy, 9 year old girl (with some extensions). I am wondering if I should be having her do oral or written narrations. Or if I should do oral for the first half, and written for the second. She fits in to the skill level of Preparing. Just wondered if there is any "rule of thumb" out there or helpful advice.

Thanks!

Oral narrations are scheduled in Bigger Hearts already. Days 2 and 5 have oral narrations scheduled for Storytime, and Days 1 and 4 have oral narrations scheduled for Science. Day 3 has oral narration scheduled for history in the Reading about History box. So, your dc will be narrating daily, which is great for both a 7 yo and a 9 yo.

As far as written narrations, those begin in PHFHG one time a week. They are quite guided to make sure dc start off on the right foot with this important skill. I think if you I'd wait one more year to introduce written narrations, so you can have the ease of doing it well with PHFHG's guided help. I loved that last year! Or, if you are really wanting to start it, you may want to get the PHFHG guide and pattern it after that 1 x a week with Bigger - maybe just for the last part of the year. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[3musketeers]

Patience,
Please forgive me for jumping in on your question. I too have a quick question about narration and hoped you wouldn't mind if I add it in on this post.

Julie,
I too have a 9 soon to be 10dc (4th grader to be). He is doing extensions for Bigger. I do have my copy of Preparing so I am set with that and I am following Carrie's great leading (just the way you described it). Here's my question. My ds was a fantastic oral narrator 2 years or so ago when he was reading shorter books. Something has squashed his little story telling heart. How can I open him back up to narrate all those great details he used to? I need some ideas on how to cultivate his narrating skills. He seems to narrate a few quick facts, not always in order, and then he's done. I'm soooo sad . Thank goodness my younger one still loves to narrate.

Thanks for the help!
3musketeers

[my3sons]

Julie,
I too have a 9 soon to be 10dc (4th grader to be). He is doing extensions for Bigger. I do have my copy of Preparing so I am set with that and I am following Carrie's great leading (just the way you described it). Here's my question. My ds was a fantastic oral narrator 2 years or so ago when he was reading shorter books. Something has squashed his little story telling heart. How can I open him back up to narrate all those great details he used to? I need some ideas on how to cultivate his narrating skills. He seems to narrate a few quick facts, not always in order, and then he's done. I'm soooo sad . Thank goodness my younger one still loves to narrate.

Thanks for the help!
3musketeers

Oh, don't be too sad about this! I think this does happen from time to time, as dc are asked to narrate more and more. Sometimes the best narrations can actually be the short ones - as long as they are succinct and in order. KWIM? More is not always better - sometimes it's just more. He's on the young side to be doing the Extension Package, so I'd give him quite a bit of leeway there. I'd have him choose his favorite part from what he read in the extension package to narrate on, making sure it is 2 pages' worth, or whatever is a small enough amount for him to narrate well on, but large enough to be enough to narrate on as well. You can alternate this favorite part telling with you choosing a portion of the reading he should narrate on. After he has read all of the pages, you can then tell him the pages you want a narration on, and have him silently reread those to better prepare himself to orally narrate on just the portion you chose. I think this will help a lot, and he should begin to perk up!

When we reach a lull in narrating, I go back to my Narration Tips list in the Appendix. It's a good refresher for me, and I also have my ds look at the student's list. I think dc can lose focus about the point of narrating. One thing I realized I had to change myself was expecting my ds to narrate like I would. Narration is supposed to be different for each person - if 50 different dc orally narrated the same passage, there should be 50 different narrations. Sometimes I'd find myself waiting for my ds to say this one thing that really struck me in what was read, and he never does - but that's because something else struck him, not my thing. So,here are a few other things that might help your ds get back on track to loving narrating with other narrations that aren't part of the extension package ...
* have a chat with him and let him know that he is a great narrator, but that you miss him putting his heart into it - go through the Student's List with him to remind him what you're looking for
* then, you take over the oral narration for the day's assignment, like you are enjoying it and it's fun to share with him - just have him listen and enjoy it
* then, go back to taking turns narrating - you narrate a bit from what was read, then he does, tapping each other and saying "Your turn" to switch as you tell the narration - again, have fun with it and he will begin to have fun along with you
* last, have him narrate and you listen like you are very interested, not interrupting (this is such a HARD rule for me to follow - but maybe I'm the only one with this difficulty ), and then at the end compliment him on what he did well - shoot for 3 compliments if you can - and then give him 1 thing to work on and tell him you'll be watching for that one thing next time

I think all of these things together should bring back his vigor for narrating eventually, as well as help him continue to grow. I hope something here helps - don't worry - we all go through ups and downs like this with our dc narrating, as well as a good deal of many other things!

In Christ,
Julie

[3musketeers]

Thanks again Julie!!! I'm printing this one out to go read again thoroughly . I'm also taking notes from your post for Mumkins on "encouraging narrating skills". Great helps!!!

[Patience]

Good ideas! I do have the Preparing guide, and I think I may have her do written narrations the second half of the year. She will be doing Bigger with some extensions/Preparing type modifications (once a week creative writing, etc.) I will take a closer look at how that is done in Preparing.

[Carrie]

Great advice in this thread ladies! I am super late to respond, but I did want to mention that for older kiddos one of the true narration squashers we've found at our house is having older kiddos narrate from too long of a reading. When the kiddos get older and the readings get longer, the narrating is tougher to do well as it's "too much" to describe in detail. Consequently, the kids shift into a fact-giving, summation type narration. So, on oral narration days, I make sure the reading is short enough to narrate well, OR I only ask for a detailed narration on the first or last chunk of what was read. This technique automatically produces a better narration.

Blessings,
Carrie

[shaybird]

I have studied CM for 14 years and would like to add from my own studies. After a child has mastered basic summary narrations, be it written or oral, they need to move on to connective and opinionated narrations, be they written or oral. The child should be adding connections from other readings, experiences, media, and whatnot as well as opinions. This is not dull and lifeless but the stuff of life !!! This leads to eventually writing essays. Narrations should be somewhat like an essay around the age of 9.(Charlotte would not have the children doing written narrations before age of 10 and oral narrations before the age of 6.) This does not mean as long or as organized but as thoughtful, whether written or oral. (Just a quick addition.) Hope no one minds.
Blessings,
Sharyn

[Carrie]

Sharyn,

You are SO right! My oldest son, in grade 7 last year, was required to write an opinion paragraph at the end of each of his narrations. We will move in that direction with our guides too as kiddos get older and more established in writing written narrations. And, in CTC, we have the kiddos practice giving a detailed narration with the storytime and also a summary narration form the storytime, so kiddos can see the difference in types of narration. Of course, they do these two types of narrations on different days of the week!

Blessings,
Carrie