Narration is, more or less, a verbal essay. The "retelling" of what is read teaches the child to mentally organize their thoughts. This is an important step when beginning to actually write. We have found it important to encourage Sister to narrate in her own words. In the beginning she would simply regurgitate what was read verbatim, with little thought put into what she was saying.
The process of "putting it in your own words" causes the piece read to take up residence. Describing how a poem, for instance, makes you feel, or describing what you envisioned while hearing the words read, makes a connection in the brain that is hard to displace. The information isn't just stored in the inbox of your brain temporarily, it is actually filed away in the filing cabinets for safe keeping.
Using a narration cube is a wonderful way to help beginners understand what narration really involves. You roll it like dice and do whatever lands on top. Now this seems almost to simple. Sister likes it because it's "fun." Well, learning is supposed to be fun! So we are going to use this form of narration over the next few months and see how this works out.
These are the cubes I made from a template in one of the forums. It's based on Penny Gardner's website. I wish I could remember where I saw it to share it. But here is a template you can use to make your own narration cube.
