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| Themed Journal Writing |
Tips for Effective Daily Writing
Writing is something we do every day. We don’t give it a thought. If we need to write something down we grab a pen and paper and write. It has become an automatic skill. Our young writers are not at this stage, making Writing one of the most important skills that teachers tackle with their students.
There are so many things young learners are trying to understand and make sense of, such as using inventive spelling to write words phonetically. 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 put the words in the correct grammatical order.
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!
When Can We Find the Time to Write Every Day?
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 mastered. There are so many aspects to writing especially for beginning writers such as directionality, letter formation, 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.
Transition Times, ending a lesson and before beginning the next; when you need to settle kids down before going to a specials’ class.
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. I usually take spiral notebooks and cut them in half with the large paper cutter. There are so many ways to make journals, Easy
Handmade Journals for Kids gives some great ideas on how to make student journals.
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 daily journal writing.
Informal Journal Writing – the purpose of 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.
Every 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. I promise you, 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 provide this structured daily writing, I have several types of writing
resources that can be used as a more formal daily writing journal for our young writers.
Themed Daily Writing Journal
These themed nonfiction 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. These resources have also been differentiated for the different writing levels of your students.
The focus of these activities is to strengthen their sentence writing.
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| Froggy About Teaching on AUL |
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| Froggy About Teaching on AUL |
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.
Froggy About Teaching 
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