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| Themed Journal Writing |
Tips for Effective Daily Writing
Writing is one of the most important skills that teachers
tackle with their students. Writing is something we do every day. It becomes an
automatic skill. We don’t give it a thought. Our young writers are not at this
stage. There are so many things they are trying to understand and make sense
of. Such as using sight words and inventive spelling. We want them to use sight
words that have words that are not decodable and yet we want them spelled correctly. We
want them to sound out CVC words and spell them by sound.
So, as educators, we want to provide the time that our students
need to gain mastery of their writing. They need both structured writing and
informal writing time. Both types of writing can be provided by using journals.
Read these tips to help you do this effectively!
Students are fortunate if they are given a daily writing time
where they can practice what they are learning and apply the skills they have
been learning. There are so many aspects to writing especially for young
writers such as directionality, punctuation, spacing, writing complete
sentences, etc.
Then there is the question of when to provide the time.
First thing in the school day, it can
be part of the morning work. This is a great way to get them going and into school mode.
After lunch, they come into the classroom
all energized from their lunch recess. They can pull their writing journals out,
settle down and spend some quiet time writing.
At the end of the day, can
also be a good choice. Students know that the day is at an end, and many of them
get fussy not wanting to do more schoolwork. This is a perfect way to bring the
school day to a close.
After a special occasion, event, or a speaker, can also
be a time to write down their thoughts.
Providing Writing Journals
So, what do I give to my students to use for this daily
writing time? You will need to provide these for your students. There are so
many ways to make journals, Easy
Handmade Journals for Kids, gives some great ideas on how to make
these.
Journal Writing
Journal writing is one of the best ways to get kids writing!
Earlier I referred to formal and informal writing. The same
applies to writing daily in a journal.
Informal Journal Writing - the
purpose for this type of writing is different. It does not need to be graded. This
is a time for stress-free writing and getting into the routine of writing. They
can share what they have written with a buddy. The teacher/homeschool mom can
randomly look at what they have written and make positive comments on that
page.
Formal Journal Writing – the purpose of this type of writing is to provide structured writing. The kids can be given writing guidelines, a checklist, and a focus. Teachers can provide students with a prompt to respond to, or a writing practice sheet.
Any opportunity that young learners get to write is going to
benefit them. Journal writing is an ideal way to give that opportunity! Even if
they are not writing words or complete sentences, this journal writing time
will give them the chance to attempt to write without the pressure of having to
write perfectly. As time goes on, you will begin to see their random letters
forming into words and the early formation of sentences.
If you are looking for a way to
accomplish this structured writing daily, I have several types of writing
resources that can be used as a daily writing journal for our young writers.
Themed Daily Writing Journal
These themed writing journals provide structure
for your students. These practice sheets provide picture cues, prompts,
the alphabet for inventive spelling, keywords for labeling the picture, a
sentence starter, and open writing space. The goal of these activities is to
strengthen their sentence writing.
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| Froggy About Teaching on TPT |
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| Froggy About Teaching on AUL |
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| Froggy About Teaching on TPT |
It is so important for our
students to get the opportunity to strengthen their writing skills. I hope I
have provided you with some valuable ways to do just that.