mom2ampm I'm glad to see that someone else journals. My kids do 15min at the start of the 'school day' to get them in the mood. It sorts of breaks it all up.
I really hope to do journaling, too, when their language skills are developed enough. A friend of mine used their journals as spelling/ creative writing. Any words they misspelled were put on a "spelling list" for the week and worked on until they knew the how's and why's of spelling the words correctly. I thought that was a terrific idea I think it would also be a nice "warm up" before practicing any handwriting, too. Do you use journal prompts from a book or do you just let them write about whatever they want?
Jacci, You can start journaling with your 4 and 5 year olds. We always did journal writing when I taught ps K. It was a wonderful way to show parents their child's progress through the K year. Kids usually progressed from scribble or pictures with little detail to writing sentences and detailed pictures. It was a great thing to show the children at the end of the year as well. I've done journals since we started our homeschooling experience when dd was 6 and ds was 2! It is so fun to look at those journals!
Missy, my girls are little paper magnets. They draw and write very, very often Especially my oldest. I have kept many of their little drawings and things they write (or attempt to write) until the end of the year. Then I sit down and choose a few to go into a folder, the rest go into folders for the grandmas. I just never called it "journaling" before. Lookie there! I've started already and didn't even know it!
Jacci, get the paper that is blank at the top and lined at the bottom. They draw a picture, and then tell you about it, and you write down what they say. Even the littlest ones can do that, even though their pictures are more scribbling. Crayola makes little pads like that, or there's a company called Miller Paper, I think, that has some really nice spiral ones for all different ages.
My 5 yo journals also. On the first day, I noticed she was writing titles to her favorite board games, which were near her desk. So the next day, I wrote her sight words on a posterboard and put it on the wall in front of her desk. Now she writes those down. Sometimes she gets into the theme of the journal entry. She just asks me how to spell stuff. Plus, she has a few picture-word books that she finds her stuff in. I figure it is practice at handwriting and creativity. Not to mention, her sight words.
I give Sami a picture every day and she writes me four sentances. I suppose that is "Journalling". Heh I just tell her it writing time. It's fun ot see her progress.
Syele... When I taught ps K we used a neat reading program. It sounds similar to what you are doing. We started out with pictures (from magazines and such) that we glued on large chart paper. The kid's helped me label things in the picture. We sounded out words and the kids were learning spelling, letters, etc. Later, we added sentences to that. Then, I made mini charts for the kids to do individually. I really liked that program and I felt the kids learned a lot from it.
Hmmm...we already have the paper that is blank on top and lined on the bottom. I got it from RR to go along w/ the Draw*Write*Now books. I really like the cute cut and paste idea. My girls LOVE scissors and glue sticks! I'll be honest, I don't see us doing a planned journal entry everyday this school year. More likely a once-a-week crafty type project. I'll keep the paper where the 2 oldest can get it if they want, and they will most likely do some impromptu "journaling" on their own I really like your ideas, guys. So, we can now add Journaling to the subjects for kindergarten! LOL
Em's likes to journal everday. I allow her to journal about whatever pops into her mind. Sometimes she journals about her dreams or what she did the day before or sometimes she makes up stories. She also draws a little picture to go along with it. She came across my old journals from school and couldn't wait to begin her own. She also has to write letters once a week to different people in the family or friends. I correct them before they go out. Her grandma also writes her letters and they send them back and forth. I guess you could call them pen pals. I also do what Syele does (I think it was Syele???), I will show her a picture and she has to make up a story about what she thinks is going on in the picture.
I like the idea of letters on a regular basis. We have a Sponsered Child in India that we are very bad about writing to. Maybe they could start with her.... Phillip now has two pen-pals (twins) that he writes to, whom he "met" here. Our grandparents are in town; I've tried to strike up communication between my kids and my cousins' kids (we have them all over the country), but it doesn't seem to work.
With the journals: Usually journal writing is something you do with them to help them get their thoughts down on paper, to practice writing, and to enjoy the writing process, so you want to make sure it's at least half-way pleasant. Some kids do NOT like writing, but if you have them journal once or twice a week, it can get them more motivated. We've journaled since my kids were young. It IS fun to look back at them now! My dd drew pictures, drew around her hand, and copied words off of books or papers or boxes, etc. when she was 3 on up. She was a talker, so she would draw a picture, then tell me about it, and I would write what she said. Anyway, one thing I wanted to say about it is that journals can become a chore if you grade it or make them spell everything correctly. A journal should be the one place where, unless they ask you if they spelled it correctly, you should just leave it. They need some creative expression without being graded, to help them want to write. It'll turn off a reluctant writer right away, if they know you're going to check and correct what they write! So, as hard as it is, I suggest letting them go, helping and suggesting as asked/needed, but not grading or correcting it. It is much more fun to look back on it years later and see where they were at that age/grade and seeing the progression as they get older! It's something that's REALLY their own personality! As for the spelling words, that's not a bad idea to take it from daily work. I don't buy separate spelling books anymore. We take our words from our other classes--math, science and history provide a wealth of spelling words that will mean more to them because they are using them daily, or almost daily! Just some thoughts to consider...
It's part of the "Teach Your Child To read" book. At the beginning they practice letters, then they start dictation, then they move to writing their own stories.
We used curriculum for phonics/reading and math. I also taught science by just talking about the world around us and what we were doing in the house. We incorporated science into our play. For example we used the toy food items and kitchen stuff to learn the food groups. Also cut magazine pictures of food items. We put these toys and cutouts into food families/groups and also made meals on toy dishes that were balanced. I would place part of the items sometimes and have child fill it out with items to balance a meal. We even did full day menues like this. The learner learned alot about food, nutrition and other topics this way. Discussing how the foods grow and their sources adds more. A discussion about eggs and chickens leads to a discussion about the difference between mammals and egg layers. The small lizards on the kitchen window screen led to discussions about the diffences between birds and reptiles. Gathering all of the stuffed animals in the house and putting them into groups like mammals and eggs, or meat and vegitarians, warm or cold blooded etc was fun. Nature walks and a trip to a zoo, or discussions about animal programs or videos, will help fill in most other concepts, Social studies concepts were often covered with books read and discussed at bedtime as well as dicussions about movies watched, and conversations about the news. The objectives on most Kindergarten guidelines I have located online and printed out from school systems and private schools around the country are not very challenging and you will have no problem covering them without a special curriculum. Those programs that I saw for these subjects that were intended for use by K level students were usually a bunch of busy work with very little information.
