Bright Hub Education

Bright Hub Education

  • Teaching Tools
    • Teaching Tools
    • Classroom Management
    • Education Industry
    • Student Assessment Tools
    • Teaching Methods
  • Preschool and Early Ed
    • Preschool and Early Ed
    • Infant Development
    • Parenting Tips and Advice
    • Preschool Crafts and Activities
    • Preschool Lesson Plans and Theme
    • Preschool Teaching Strategies
    • Toddler Activities and Ideas
  • Elementary School
    • Elementary School
    • Grade School Activities
    • Lesson Plans for Pre-K and K
    • Lesson Plans: Grades 1 - 2
    • Lesson Plans: Grades 3 - 5
    • Parenting Grade Schoolers
    • Teaching Younger Students
  • Middle School
    • Middle School
    • English Lessons: Grades 6-8
    • History Lessons: Grades 6-8
    • Math Lessons: Grades 6-8
    • Parenting Preteens and Tweens
    • Science Lessons: Grades 6-8
    • Social Studies: Grades 6-8
    • Teaching Middle Schoolers
    • The Arts: Grades 6-8
  • More
    • High School(7)
    • Homework Help(20)
    • Special Ed(11)
    • More Areas(4)
More
High School (7)
Homework Help (20)
Special Ed (11)
More Areas (4)
English Lessons: Grades 9-12
High School Teaching Tips
History Lessons: Grades 9-12
Math Lessons: Grades 9-12
Parenting Teens
Science Lessons: Grades 9-12
The Arts: Grades 9-12
English Help
Geography Facts
Help with German
Help with Latin
Help with Writing
History Help
Language Learning Strategies
Learning Chinese
Learning French
Learning Italian
Learning Japanese
Learning Spanish
Literature Study Guides
Math Facts
Miscellaneous Languages
Science Homework Help
Science Projects
Social Studies Help
Study and Learning Tips
Test Preparation
Behavioral Disorders
Gifted and Exceptional St...
Hearing Impairments
IDEA, IEPs and The Law
Inclusion Strategies
Learning Disorders
Neurological Disorders
Physical Disabilities
Special Ed: Parent Perspe...
Speech Disorders
Visual Impairments
Homeschooling Advice
Summer Learning
Teaching a Second Language
Teaching ESL Learners
Elementary School
    Skip to content
    768

    Journal Writing in the Elementary Classroom

    Lesson Plans & Worksheets for Grades 3 to 5 / By Tania Cowling / Teaching Grades Pre-K to 5

    Begin with a Blank Book

    Journaling 101 Pin it! Share on Facebook

    Surprise each of your students with a very special notebook treasure (if funds are provided). If not, ask parents to purchase a spiral notebook (or notebook type of your choice) for the child to bring to class.

    When planning your journal experience, keep your students’ ability level in mind. Another decision may be how often you plan to write. Some teachers prefer to write journal entries together as a class. Others may want free journal writing to be once a day, weekly, or several times per week in short increments of time. You know best what will fit into your planned curriculum schedule and what your kids have interest and ability to do with this project.

    Have a special place or box to store all the journals when not in use.

    The Language Arts Connection

    Journal writing is a powerful addition to language arts activities. They give kids a special place to develop, practice, and experiment with their writing style.

    Use this teaching tool in a variety of exciting ways to help students develop fluency in their writing. Keep the journal as a diary, writing about events during the day or a place to jot down personal feelings or thoughts. Or your can use journals to encourage writing about classroom themes; either teacher selected topics or writer’s choice. No matter which way, journals help students to keep thoughts about what they have learned, jot down poems, or even write letters. Illustrations may be included to make the entries fun. The opportunities for kids to make use of journals are endless.

    Another fun idea is to journal after reading a book in class. Ask the kids to imagine themselves as a specific story character and write from that perspective. How would they handle situations? Or, have them rewrite the story – add, delete, or transform to create a new version of the old story.

    As student writers, the kids need to understand that writing can always be improved. Young children have the notion that once something is written, its done! Talk about editing and how pieces of written word need to be reread and sometimes edited for improvement. Periodically, go back to previous entries and ask your students to read their entry and try to polish it. Have the kids compare the two versions. Can they detect an improvement? Think about pairing students in groups and read the entries together. Peer evaluation can help individuals find areas that need revising.

    Use Journals in Your Science Center

    Journaling provides kids with an excellent means of recording predictions and outcomes in the scientific process. After presenting an experiment, have your students write an entry in their journal about what they thought would happen, what did happen, and even draw illustrations of the experiment.

    The Social Studies Connection

    social studies theme provides many arenas to get students thinking and writing. Diversity in people, cultures, locales, and historic events can be stepping stones for writing exercises in comparing and contrasting.

    Maybe step back in time and ask the kids to choose a particular person, place, or event in history and write about it. Have them imagine themselves as part of this time. What happened today? What would they do to make the day better?

    Another idea is to make use of newspapers, magazines, and photos to promote writing. Not only does it give kids ideas what to write about, but it also gets them into the habit of reading periodicals.

    TV Connections Make Journaling Fun

    Let’s face it – kids watch television shows. Make a connection between television shows and adding entries to the child’s journal. Have the student write a summation of their favorite TV show or ask them to creatively write an idea for a new cartoon, sitcom, or action program.

    All in all, journal writing is a great teaching tool to encourage writing in the classroom. The book helps to keep a culmination of the child’s work and a visual evaluation. There are so many topics to incorporate in your creative writing sessions – the list is endless and can keep the momentum going throughout the entire school year.

    Post navigation

    ← Previous Post
    Next Post →
    Copyright © 2019 Bright Hub Education. All Rights Reserved.
    About | Copyright Policy | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use
     
    • Popular Pages

      • Home
    • More Info

      Recent

      • Free Primary Math Workbook for Spring Break
      • Science Worksheets for Spring Break – Primary Students
      • Grade Four Geometry Lesson Plan: Measuring and Classifying Shapes
      • Grade 3 Graphing Lesson Using Students’ Favorite Items
      • WebQuest Lesson Plan: Introduce Fourth Graders to the Grand Canyon
      • Labor Day Lesson Plan for 3rd and 4th Graders
     

    Search

    Navigation

    • Teaching Tools
    • Preschool and Early Ed
    • Elementary School
    • Middle School
    • Top Menu

    Get In Touch

    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • Google+
    © brighthubeducation.com. All rights reserved.
    • Privacy Policy