Some Sample Summaries

I'll be taking photographs of all of our main lesson books this year and posting them, but I wanted to share a few of the recent summaries my students wrote. I just love hearing how the children frame their retellings. Some children write a complete double-spaced rough draft and I edit it; some tell the story orally and I scribe for them while they talk; and I have one child who is doing this particular book as a graphic novel and so he decides how many scenes each story requires (each MLB page is divided into quarters, so a story can be 4 frames, 8 frames, or 12 frames) and then writes a rough draft of the words of explanation for each scene.

We are doing this block with children older than 3rd grade, so please don't compare these to the work of a nine year old. But the children I have in this group are really responding to the stories and I felt very strongly guided to choose this topic for them. Next year they will progress to Norse Mythology.

Job

Job was a good man. He loved God and God loved him. Then the devil said, "Let me take all his things away from him. Then he will curse your name." So all of Job's ten children died and his animals got taken and his house was destroyed. Job still loved God and prayed to Him every day. Then the devil was mad because Job still loved God. God gave Job a better house, more animals, and more children.


One day the Devil was trying to tell God that if He took from His loyal servant, Job, all of his possessions that he would curse God. And God said, "He will not. But try as you will." The Devil sent a tornado, killing all of his cattle and sheep, as well as destroying his house and killing his ten children. And all that was left was his wife. Job still loved God so the Devil got so angry that he just kicked a can and left God to be. God restored all of Job's family and possessions.

Jonah

frame 1: God sent for Jonah and He told him to stop whatever was happening and go to Nineveh and warn them that He was going to destroy it.

frame 2: Jonah went in the opposite direction. He was eaten by a fish.

frame 3: Then the fish spit him out because he said he would go back to Nineveh.

frame 4 [which he made a full frame of text and did not illustrate]: He figured out that Nineveh wasn't even going to be destroyed and he got super-angry at God and then God sent down a vine and He sent down a worm to it. And Jonah got angry about the vine and God said, "This is a vine that you have not even cared about or taken care of. Why are you getting angry about it? And if you really are feeling that way about a vine, isn't it natural for Me to feel that way about Nineveh?"

Daniel in the Lion's Den

When King Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem he took captives. Daniel was one of them. When they reached Babylon, Daniel was taken into the king's court because he was so smart. Then the Medes and Persians conquered Babylon and a new king was appointed. He loved Daniel but his advisors hated him, so they hatched a plan. "Outlaw praying," they advised and King Darius thought nothing of it. But Daniel prayed three times a day to his God. The advisors caught him and threw him in the lion's den even though the king didn't want them to, but he felt he couldn't go back on his word. The lions just lay down before Daniel and the next morning King Darius came and found him alive. He rejoiced and threw his advisors into the den. They were delicious. Mmmmm...

Queen Esther

The king of Persia held a banquet and the queen held a banquet. The king summoned the queen so he could show her off to his guests. But the queen refused to come, so King Ahasuerus kicked her out of the palace. Then he summoned all the women of the country of Persia before him so he could choose a new wife. He chose Esther. Esther was a Jew and King Ahasuerus didn't know. Haman was the king's prime minister and he hated Mordecai, Esther's uncle. So he said to the king late one night, "The Jews don't bow to you. Let me rid Persia of them." The king, who was very tired, said, "Do as you wish." Then Haman decided that on the 13th day of the 12th month all the Jews would be killed. One day Mordecai overheard the king's cook and butler plotting to kill the king. They poisoned his soup. Mordecai sent an urgent letter to the king. Just a second before he ate the soup, he got the letter. Then the king summoned the cook and the butler and told them to eat the soup. They fell down dead the second it touched their lips. Then the king asked Haman how to reward someone who had done a great service. Then Haman, thinking it was him, said to dress him in the king's own clothes, give him gold and silver, and ride him through the streets on the king's best stallion. Then King Ahasuerus said for Mordecai to be brought in and Haman led his horse in great seething anger. Now Haman had built a gallows on which to hang Mordecai. But Mordecai told Esther to tell the king she was a Jew and to save their people. She feared for her life because you cannot go to the king unless you're summoned. Mordecai said, "You must go!" So she told the king about Haman's plan to massacre all the Jews including her and Mordecai, and he hung him from his own gallows.

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