Journal writing in Kindergarten

I believe that journal writing is the perfect differentiated activity to do with a group of students – everyone can write something at their own level. Journal writing in Kindergarten in no exception. After learning all the letters and sounds we are now putting what we know into practice.

Take a look at what it looks like when we work in our journals. You can see concentration and thinking going on. You can see students using classroom resources like alphabet charts and the word wall to help them in their writing. You can see students able to chose to write about whatever they want 🙂

What do four and five year olds chose to write about?

This student wrote about how she likes to walk on the balance beam during gym class.

This student decided to write about ducks because she likes ducks!

This student wrote about when she was a baby and called the police!

This student wrote about a poem we read called “Alligator Soup.”

This student wrote about how he likes his mom because she plays with him 🙂

It is amazing to see students work hard and try to get their ideas down on paper. They are allowed to write about whatever they want and whatever they chose to write about is honoured. I never write the correct spelling after as I don’t want them to be hindered by having to get it right. My hope is that they will try and not be afraid to make a mistake. As you can see they are trying and are succeeding in sharing their ideas and growing as writers.

And as a teacher journal writing helps me to see what my students know and what they need to work on.

I know that this student knows how to write a sentence and now needs to learn how to put spaces in between her words.

I know that this student is able to copy words correctly from the word wall (like, eat) and that she knows what letters make the long e sound.

I know that this student can express her ideas through pictures and is able to figure out some of the sounds in a word.

What a joy to see my students writing and to be excited about writing. How wonderful that God created us to continually be able to learn and grow!