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glinNC
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| Posted: Aug 01 2007 at 7:34am | IP Logged
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How do you encourage narration from two children who were listening to you read at the same time? Do you let the older one narrate first, which would help the younger one? Or do you send one out of the room so that he wouldn't hear anything from the other child? 
My boys are almost 7 and 5, they seem to compete to tell me things when they are both telling me a shared story/event. I want to start book-retelling with them, but I'm not sure how to peacefully get their narrations! 
Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thank you!
Blessings,
Ginny
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Karen T
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| Posted: Aug 04 2007 at 7:38am | IP Logged
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I would love to hear what others do in this also, as I have 2 kids who are only 20 mos apart and essentially being taught together for most things.
I do remember reading somewhere (CM Companion maybe?) that you should let the youngest go first b/c they are going to narrate the more obvious things, straight facts. Then, the next oldest adds a few more details, etc. This might have been in the context of picture study, now that I think more on it, but it makes sense with book narrations also I think.
Or, you could still do the reading together, but then separate them to hear their narrations.
Karen T
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gracie4309
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| Posted: Aug 04 2007 at 8:53am | IP Logged
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I struggled with this, too, and still do to some degree. I have one son, age 8, who seems to remember nothing that was just read/told to him, and another, age 6, who wants to relate every detail. 
One thing I just started doing is taping their narrations into a tape recorder. Initially, this was to save my aching fingers. They can talk alot faster that I can type or write. They actually got pretty excited about it, and now I can type the narrations at my leisure. I'm not sure if the novelty of it will wear off, but for now its working. Maybe if you can get your hands on a tape recorder ( they still sell blank audio tapes at Walmart and other stores),
you could tell your boys they will each have a turn to record their retellings. They will probably get a kick out of hearing themselves telling the story. My kids sure do. Then you can save the tapes after you type or write them out, or tape over them.
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Grace (wife to Jim, mom of Nick-16, Mary-13, Sam-8, Paul-5, and Patrick-5)
How Sweet The Sound
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MarilynW
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| Posted: Aug 04 2007 at 1:13pm | IP Logged
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I have struggled with this too - I have twins. I am still trying to figure it out.
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Marilyn
Blessed with 6 gifts from God
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cathhomeschool
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| Posted: Aug 05 2007 at 9:03am | IP Logged
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If we are doing a narration that's to be written down, I have them narrate individually to me while the other is in a different room engaged in something else (ie. not listening to brother's narration). If we are narrating orally (usually we do this right before reading that book again to remember "where we were"), then I let the one who usually remembers least go first.
Grace, I can relate to your struggles. When my older two were younger, one would dictate pages and pages and pages to me while the other gave a few sentences. I slowly encouraged the younger one to remember more (by adding leading questions or asking for explanations). And once my lengthy narrator was older (oh, maybe 9?) I began asking him to tell me only what was most important -- What would he tell someone who had never read the story who wanted to know what he *needed* to know about the story in order to understand it. My son then started thinking about stories as he narrated and was able to begin sifting through the events to separate the extra stuff from what was important to the plot.
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Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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Jennifer
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| Posted: Aug 09 2007 at 9:19am | IP Logged
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We take turns. For example one narrates to me during the day and then another gets to narrate to dad at the dinner table. I know this sounds so simple, but it works for us. I have three who are able to narrate and I think by letting them have turns at different times it nearly elliminates the you forgot, you copied me stuff. And since the other child doesn't need to be thinking of what and how to narrate they can truly listen to the current narrator. We also lead by asking questions like Janette, which works well when someone is stumped.
Jennifer
Camp Homeschool
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4Real Forums : Language Arts Come Alive
Topic: Narration with 2 children at once
