EARLY LITERACY MONDAYS!

It's that time of week again - the weekend is over and work is restarted and we are all too tired to think about early literacy. Right? WRONG! Librarian Pirate is here to help! This week's skill is ...

NARRATIVE SKILLS

Narrative skills are just what they sound like. Learning how a story is put together with a beginning, a middle, and an end. This doesn't mean teaching your child how to tell what the rising action, climax, and falling action of a story are - it's just telling stories so she (or he) can get the basics. When I come home I tend to ask my husband what he did today. Then I ask Kaylee what she did today. I do it in this order so I can sneakily help Kaylee to craft her narrative. eg:
LP: What did you do today, Kaylee?
K: Uhhh ...
LP: What did you have for breakfast!
K: CHEERIOS!
LP: And then what did you do?
K: I played blocks! I played with PIPPA!
LP: That sounds like so much fun! What did you do next?
K: uh ...
LP: Did you go anywhere?
K: YES! Pippa and Daddy go on SCURSION* and I went TOO!
LP: Awesome! Where did you go?
K: We went to the NORTH POLE!**
LP: WOW! What did you do there?
K: We bought toilet paper and HOT DOGS! And I had hot dog, catsup, mac and cheese for lunch. PARTY IN MY TUMMY!

*Excursion. Calling it that instead of errands makes life seem so much more fun
**Not sure why she's been so obsessed with the North Pole lately. It started quite awhile after Christmas, but it makes her happy.

You get the picture! (Or do you want a LONGER account of Kaylee's fascinating day? I'm usually quite enthralled, but I am a bit biased. Now go forth and NARRATE!