Those who homeschool using Classical or Charlotte Mason methods are familiar with daily narrations. A narration is a short summary of an assigned reading given orally by the student. Narrations serve two purposes. One, it helps the teacher determine the level of reading comprehension of the student. Two, it helps reading comprehension on the part of the student. The length of a narration is usually two to three thoughtful sentences.
Narrations do not always have to be given in the same manner everyday. Adding some creativity to this daily exercise will enhance the student’s comprehension and keep him more engaged in reading. Different students learn in different ways and express themselves in different manners. It is important to allow a student freedom of expression in this assignment to make it successful.
The following is a list of creative ideas for narrations. You can write each one down on an index card and pick one randomly each day or assign days to certain narration exercises. You may also want to write each idea down on a slip of paper and simply pull them out of a jar each day. Whatever works for your family is fine as long as the exercise is achieves its goal. Having said all of that, I do not want to diminish the importance of oral narrations. The ideas listed below are to enhance oral narrations not replace them entirely.
1. Draw a picture about the reading and explain it to the teacher.
2. Draw a character or person from the reading and describe his or her personality and give examples from the reading.
3. Copy two interesting quotations from the reading. Give explanation as to why you chose the quotations.
4. Create a banner or poster and explain.
5. Use Play-Doh to model something related to the reading.
6. Draw a character from the reading and write a short description.
7. If you were to give a test on the reading what three questions would you ask?
8. Creat a short comic strip.
9. Write a letter from one character to another character in the reading.
10. Make a short puppet show out of a scene from the reading.
11. Act out a short skit based on the reading.
12. Write down two sentences about the reading.
13. Make scene from the book out of legos.
14. Compare and contrast a character in the book to yourself.
15. Determine what a character would have written in his or her diary from your reading and write a diary page from the perspective.
16. Define at least two new words from the reading either orally or on paper.
17. Find a biblical truth in the reading.
18. Write down two importent events in the reading.
19. Write or give orally a prediction of what will happen next in the story.
20. Write or tell what you would do if you were a character in the reading.
Related Articles:
Homeschooling with Charlotte Mason
Tools for Teaching Charlotte Mason
Charlotte Mason: Reluctant Narrators