Narrative Comprehension

We're working on three different stories in the Gray School now. The Frog Story, which we've been working on for some time, is coming along. We've been focusing on two narrative dimensions--motivation of the characters (the frogs are very hot so they jump into the water) and outcome of actions (they feel much better). We don't use a book. We just tell the story together using figures and props. I think for a final project I'll videotape Marco telling the story with props and show it to the family.

A few weeks ago we added a story about a Lion Hunt (like the well known Bear Hunt story), which uses rhythm and hand gestures and again, no book. In this one we're focusing on two more narrative dimensions--visualizing the images and tracking the sequence of events. If and when I get the feeling that the Lark actually is visualizing the images, we'll try making our own picture book with all the scenes in the correct order.

Just this week we added the Three Little Pigs (simplified to the One Little Pig and the Big, Bad Wolf), again with no book but with figures and props. In this one I'd like to focus on the characters and the interaction between them, hopefully building toward identification with the little pig. I don't know what we'll do for a project yet.

I've decided not to use books for a couple of reasons. First of all, if the Lark likes a book, he tends to memorize it--in lieu of understanding the story. Obviously this is not what we want. Second, there are so many ways to engage with a book without ever engaging with the narrative--there are the pictures, the words (even the font), the cover, the feel of the pages, etc. We really want to focus on the narrative without any distractions. Third, with a book, the story is exactly the same every time. When we tell the story from memory, it's a little different every time, so the Lark can see for himself that there are many ways to tell the same story (building flexibility). This may also provide a good memory exercise, which would be good for both of us :) We'll see!