Difficulty recalling information from the read alouds

LynnH · Post by **LynnH** » Tue Sep 01, 2009 9:19 am

I am noticing that my ds is having some problems recalling information from the read alouds. For example today we did the first day of Life in the Ice age. When I asked the questions following the reading he really struggled coming up with the answers. The question about explaining some of the problems that people faced after the flood and the question about why might the weather have changed after the flood especially were tough. I think part of it was because he kind of glazed over when I was reading the preface. Now with the story part he could tell me many things he knew about Jabeth and his family.

What I did to help him was ask some leading type of questions that would help him come up with the answers . Things like "do you think food was hard or easy to find?" Is that the best way to get him to start thinking the way he needs to? Any other suggestions to help him with this?

water2wine · Post by **water2wine** » Tue Sep 01, 2009 10:13 am

No expert on this by far. But how I trained my kids to be able to listen and actually hear longer portions of reading is to start with really small pieces of it and let them know I am going to ask them to tell me what I was reading about and the main points. If they did not get it I would read it again and give them another shot. Then if they did get it I just made a big deal about it. I think narration is a skill that requires some time to grasp. My kids are all real good at it now for the most part but when we started out it did take some practice. We kind of made it a game to move up to longer portions of reading. That worked really well for us. HTH

quilterbee · Post by **quilterbee** » Tue Sep 01, 2009 12:34 pm

Hello I too am no expert; however, what is working with my son is to tell him the questions before I read the material. Then when I ask the questions he has answers for me.
HTH,
Marsha

LynnH · Post by **LynnH** » Tue Sep 01, 2009 2:21 pm

Thanks so much for the ideas. I am going to try all of these ideas. I think it might help if at least at first I tell him the questions before hand. Also I like the idea of rereading it if he doesn't get it. He is very much a visual learner so sometimes something that is all auditory can be tough for him.

my3sons · Post by **my3sons** » Tue Sep 01, 2009 9:20 pm

water2wine wrote:...let them know I am going to ask them to tell me what I was reading about and the main points. If they did not get it I would read it again and give them another shot. Then if they did get it I just made a big deal about it.

This is exactly what I did, and my ds is an excellent narrator now (this didn't happen overnight

). Becoming good at narrating takes time, and is a skill that can be worked on lifelong. I think of it like giving a speech - it can take a lifetime to be good at that, but each "speech" teaches something new and gets us that much closer to the goal. When you think about it, narrating requires so many skills at once - listening attentively, retaining information, organizing the information that you retained, sharing that information with another person verbally - all without notes or resources other than your own mind. No wonder it's tough at first!

It is totally normal for narrating to be difficult at first. Keep plugging away at it though - it's such a worthy skill to acquire. Your little guy will be impressing you with his growth in narrating this year - I know it for sure - but it may take awhile to see the fruit of the labor.

In Christ,
Julie

Post by **Carrie** » Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:53 pm

Lynn,

This isn't uncommon at all, so don't feel that your little guy is alone in this!

The questions that you mentioned he had trouble with fall in the higher level thinking category, where the "right answer" doesn't jump off the page. Kiddos who have been used to having to come up with the one right answer, aren't sure what to do with questions that could be answered multiple ways. Since your little sweetie is coming out of public school, he would have been exposed to quite a few one-right-answer questions and this would feel new to him.

On a first exposure to something new we're not expecting mastery, as it's only an introduction. He'll have all year to practice the skill too, so settle in and you'll definitely see progress!

Blessings,
Carrie

LynnH · Post by **LynnH** » Wed Sep 02, 2009 6:25 am

Thanks everyone for all the encouragement. I needed to hear it. Carrie the thoughts you expressed about him coming from ps and being used to their being only one answer is exactly what I was thinking. On a positive note, today he did a great oral narration for his science reading from the one small square book. He loves that book and can't wait to read it every day (which is why it was done by 8 this morning).

Post by **Carrie** » Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:26 pm

Lynn,

I'm praising the Lord with you today for your son's narration!

It's so important to share the joyful times too, so I'm glad you popped back on to post again.

By the way, I thoroughly enjoyed the pictures of your sweet son that you shared on the weekly check-in! He's doing very well in his first weeks of his transition to homeschooling. And remember, it IS a transition, so give it time and you will see the fruit!

Blessings,
Carrie

heartofdakota.com

Difficulty recalling information from the read alouds

Difficulty recalling information from the read alouds

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