Fun Storytelling!

Developing Narrative Skills! I can tell stories!

Developing narrative skills is important to reading and learning. Narrative skills, like print awareness, must be developed for children to enjoy books (as identified by the American Library Association). Through telling/retelling stories and events, children show that they understand what has been learned, and they can express their own creativity.

Tip

After completing an activity, let your child summarize what has happened, or give her/his own highlights. Ask questions that are open ended. Ex. "What did you do at the park today?" "Why do you like the swing set?"

Book

Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann.  Good Night, Gorilla is a wonderful book to help your toddler/preschooler develop narrative skills. A lot of the story's action happens outside of the printed text! Before you open the book, talk about the front cover. Ask your child what is on the cover, and what he or she thinks the book will be about. As you read out each of the "Good Nights!" ask your child what is happening in each picture. Alternately, you can say "Uh oh! Gorilla is ___! What do you think will happen next?"

1 comment:

  1. I like the suggestion of asking the child explain what happened. And maybe ask them what might have happened if the situation slightly changed. Good if-then causal thinking skill building.

    Awesome work Tina!

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