Shared Journal

Information Packet

2014-2015









Dear Parents,
Today your child will be bringing home his/her first journal. This journal
will become the most treasured collection from your childs kindergarten days.
It will serve as a rich source of enjoyment and pride as well as an excellent tool
for academic progress.
This journal will be a collection of your childs daily writings. Each day,
the topic of these writings will be chosen by the children and will reflect an
important or meaningful event or idea from that day. Each days entry will
consist of the days date, a pictorial representation of that event and some form
of writing. Your childs journal will be sent home at the end of each month for
you and your child to read and enjoy together. Then the journal should be
returned to school so it can be placed in the reading center to be included in the
class library.
Please give your child and his/her journal considerable attention. They have
been wanting to take these home since the beginning of September. They have
waited a long time! You should be able to see progress from the beginning of
the month to the end of the month. Just dont expect perfect work. Every child
will be working on his/her own level and will progress at their own rate.
Not only will this improve your childs oral language development, writing
and letter skills, but it will also help with those difficult notions of the past,
time, and history. Until now, most children at this age have no notion of the
basic concept of time. They have not developed the concept of history or the
past. These journals will help your child develop ideas of what history is by
recording his/her own experiences, which can be looked back on at a later date.
Because the children are writing an event that took place at school, their
writing has become important to them. It has a very direct purpose and
therefore a real meaning. Every page will eventually be filled with their own
writing of an actual event. You will begin to see amazing results (give it time
though)! Do not expect correctly spelled words. The spellings you will see are
their own inventions and will begin to reflect their knowledge of letters, words,
and sentences. This is a process that every child encounters regardless of
teaching and it is extremely crucial to their development of reading skills. I
hope you enjoy these as much as the children do. They are so thrilled about
being able to bring them home to you. Please take time to go through each
page. Dont forget to return them after you see them! We will make a book
at the end of the year including all the months. Thank you!

Sincerely,
Stacye A. Jones


JOURNALS


Sharing
Helps children learn each others names
Helps children learn about each others families
Helps children learn to ask questions
Helps children learn elements of a story-who, what, where, when, and how
Helps children learn we all share common experiences (ex. Losing a tooth)
Helps children know how others feel (ex. It hurt and I cried)
Helps children develop a closeness and a bond with each other
Helps children learn to relate experiences

Sharing takes place
1) With other children
2) With the teacher
3) With parents

Journals serve as a written history of our class. We use them to look back at
events, count how many have shared the same experiences, and as a
springboard to other types of writing.

Dating the journal
1) Days of the week
2) Months of the year
3) Numerical order

Past and present (If today is Wednesday, what was yesterday?, What will
tomorrow be?)
Length of time (How many days make a week?, How many days make a
month?)
Transfer what they see on the calendar by writing it on their journal.
Counting and one to one correspondence (One page for each day)







Shared Journal Process

I hope you enjoy reading your childs journal. Each day the children share
experiences from their lives or from school events. These experiences are
discussed and voted on by the children. One topic is selected as the daily
journal entry. Each child draws a picture about the topic and then tells me
what he/she wants to write about the topic. I write exactly what the child
says whether or not it is grammatically correct. The purpose is to encourage
your child to write, not to write everything correctly.

When your child is ready, he/she will begin to write his/her story. This
usually occurs when the child has some correspondence between letters, and
sounds, or simply the child has made the connection that letters represent
what they want to write even if there is no sound-symbol correspondence.
The emphasis of shared journal writing is to involve the children in all
aspects of language arts listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Shared
journal writing is an excellent way for children to begin seeing the
relationship between spoken language and written language. Also, shared
journal writing emphasizes the social aspect of the childs development.
Through the sharing, children are able to see similarities between their own
experiences and those experiences of their friends.

Children may be included in many learning activities outside of school.
Some of these activities that you may do with your child are making a
grocery list, following a recipe, following directions for assembling items,
reading the newspaper, and reading road signs, billboards, or other print in
the environment. Most of all read with your child at home! Reading with
your child every day is an activity that will pay off in the future. If you need
recommendations for childrens books, I will be glad to help you.

Please allow your child to share his/her journal stories with you and praise
his/her work. If a child feels good about what he/she has accomplished, this
will help build the confidence necessary for learning. After reading your
childs journal each month, please return it to school. These journals will be
kept as part of our reading center. At the end of the school year, I will have
them bound for you as a special keepsake that you will treasure for years!

Thanks!
Stacye A. Jones

(The highlighted/marked through sections are items I decided to suspend a few years ago,
due to increasing student-teacher ratio. Although these items are extremely beneficial
for young children, I made the decision that excluding part of the Shared Journal process
was better than omitting the entire practice.)

Shared Journal Synopsis by Allyson Martin

Materials Needed:
Journals for each child 1 page for each day of the month in the journal (including
Saturday and Sunday)
Pencils
Crayons
Journal Sharing Sign-up Board
Chart with every childs name- used to record when a child shares and when a childs
story has been written about

Process:

Prior to journal sharing time:
The child tells the teacher they have a story to share for journals. The teacher
screens the story for content, appropriateness, to help the child remember the
details that need to be shared, etc. (Most teachers have 3 children share each day.)
If the teacher and the child agree that the story is appropriate, the child signs up to
share the story on the Journal Sharing sign-up board. The teacher may also assist
the child in thinking of a title or keyword for the story. The child then writes this
title or key word on the board beside his name using knowledge of the alphabetic
principal, spelling rules, etc. Some teachers wait until the child has shared the
story and then the child and the class decide together on a keyword or title to
record on the journal sharing board.

Journal Sharing time:
At journal sharing time the class is seated on the floor. The teacher and children
check the journal sharing sign-up board to see who will share. The children share
their stories in the order listed on the board.
After the child tells his story, the child asks classmates for questions. The teacher
must decide how to manage the questioning time so that the length is appropriate.
Some teachers choose to have the child wait to give the story a title or a key word
until this time. Then the child, teacher, and classmates decide on a title or key
word together and the child writes the title or key word beside his/her name on the
sharing board. The child uses his own spelling, but can get assistance from
classmates in spelling the word.
After all 3 stories have been shared and questioning has occurred, the teacher
leads the children in a discussion about which story should be written about in the
journal for that day. The focus is on the story its content, detail, interest, and
relevance to the time not on the child who shared it. The teacher questions
children to get to their reasoning about why a particular story should be included
in the journal. Reasoning and negotiating are difficult skills for young children,
but skillful teachers are able to help children make progress in their ability to de-
center and think thoughtfully about others points of view.
The length of the negotiating time depends on the skill/level of the children. The
teacher decides based on her students when negotiating time is over. If agreement
is not reached on a particular story, the children vote.
The teacher reads the title or key word for each story (not the name of the child
who shared the story). The children vote in whatever way the teacher deems
appropriate. The teacher or children count the votes and puts tally marks or the
numeral that represents the votes next to the story title/key word.
The children and teacher look at and discuss the results of the vote. The teacher
discusses more, less, etc.
The story that receives the most votes is then recorded in the journal.
The teacher and children keep up with who has shared and who has been written
about on a chart. The chart is displayed so that children can see it during journal
time.
Once the story has been decided upon, the teacher and children quickly review the
story and discuss things that could and should be included in their writing and
illustrations.

Writing time:
Children go to their seats and find the page for the days story. Some teachers
have the children write the date in their journal after they sign in and check in
each morning. Others have them write the date in their journal before they go to
centers. Others have the children write the date as soon as they get to their seats
during writing time. The date includes the day of the week, the month, day, and
year.
On Friday or on Monday (teacher preference) the children date their journals for
Saturday and Sunday and draw a smiley face or some other designated symbol to
remember that these days are weekend days. The purpose of dating the journal
for Saturday and Sunday is to help the children solidify the very abstract concept
of time day, 7 days in a week, number of days in a month, etc. It also allows the
journal to be used as a history. If the class wants to find out how long it has been
since Johnny lost his tooth, they can count the pages in the journal since that story
was recorded.
Once the date is written the children illustrate the story before writing about it.
The teacher circulates among the children during this time observing what they
are drawing, observing and commenting on the details in their picture, and
questioning to extend their thinking.
Once the picture is completed the child begins to write the story. The child uses
his knowledge of segmentation, the alphabetic principle, sight words, spelling
rules, story structure, conventions of print, etc. as he works to record his thoughts
on paper.
The teacher continues to circulate during the writing time. The teacher questions
children as they are drawing and writing to extend the content of the picture and
story.
The teacher usually spends individual time with children during the writing (and
possibly the drawing) portion of journals. This depends on the needs of the child.

Sharing/Conferencing time:
When the child feels that he/she has completed the picture and writing, the teacher
goes to the child and the child reads the story to the teacher. The teacher and the
child discuss the picture and writing. During this conferencing time, the teacher
gives the child authentic feedback about the picture and the writing. The teacher
points out strengths, areas of improvement that have occurred based on prior
conferencing and small group work, and one or two things to work on.
During the conferencing time, the teacher observes areas of growth for each child.
The journal then becomes a data source for planning small group instruction.
After the child and teacher have conferenced about the picture and writing, the
child makes any changes, additions, etc. Then the child may read the story to a
friend or another teacher.

Journal Celebrations:
Teachers regularly celebrate accomplishments in journal writing and drawing.
When a child has accomplished a goal or has made significant progress in some
area of journaling, the teacher celebrates this with the class by calling attention
to it, having the child read and share his work with the class, etc.

Sharing with family:
At the end of each month the children take home their journal to read to their
parents.
After the journal has been read at home, the children bring it back to school.
Each monthly journal is kept in a large binder and housed in the classroom for
children to read, use as a reference, etc. Some teachers keep a listing of the
stories to put as an index in the front of each month in the binder.
At the end of the year the binder (with all of the journal entries for the year) goes
home.

Benefits of shared journal writing:
Builds a sense of community
Allows for the development of oral language skills
Provides opportunities for children to be both the speaker and the audience
Develops the concept of story and story sequence
Provides opportunities for children to practice the skill of careful listening
Gives structured opportunity for children to practice asking and answering who,
what, when, where, why, how questions
Provides daily practice in segmenting
Provides daily practice in applying the alphabetic principle
Provides meaningful, purposeful practice in handwriting
Provides practice in story comprehension
Provides daily opportunity for children to read their writing to the teacher and to
classmates
Provides opportunities for and practice in exchanging ideas and points of view
Provides opportunities to solidify concept of day, week, month, etc.
Provides opportunities to count, add, work with concepts of more and less, etc.
Writing serves as a data source for planning small group and individual
instruction