We are using the free curriculum guide from Ambleside Online. This narration is on the story of The Tortoise and the Ducks, from Aesop's Fables. SA is six years old, and this was his first week of learning the skill of narration (telling back what was read). On this occasion he was a little reluctant, so I offered to alternate sentences with him. He soon picked up the story, though.
After first section read:
Me: The tortoise carries his house on his back.
SA: And the house is a shell.
Me: Jupiter made him carry his house on his back because he was so lazy he wouldn't go to Jupiter's wedding.
The tortoise felt sad because...
SA: The birds punished him?
Me: Well, you could say that. The birds flew anywhere they wanted to go, but poor tortoise...
SA: Couldn't go anywhere he wanted because he had no wings.
After second section read:
SA: Two ducks were there and he asked the ducks to carry him where he wanted. So they took a pole and two ducks were on the ends and the tortoise was in the middle.
After third section read:
SA: A crow flew by. Then when he opened his mouth to say something, he fell down on a rock and smashed into pieces.
You will notice that he missed a few details in the second section, and completely missed the moral of the story in the third section. :) This was an average narration from our first week. Sometimes he did better, sometimes he did worse. I felt it was a good start. I plan to write down a narration at the end of the term as well so that I can see his growth.
