After years of watching my fellow preschool/pre-k teacher use writing journals in her classroom, I finally added journal time to my curriculum last year. The results were more than I could have hoped for…so this year I have added more theme pages and I plan on making sure writing journals are included in every weekly lesson plan from this point forward.
The NAEYC states:
Teachers play an important role in promoting emergent writing development by scaffolding writing activities that engage young children in building their conceptual, procedural, and generative knowledge. Writing can easily be embedded in daily routines as children write their names, engage in learning centers, practice writing for a purpose based on teacher and peer models, and contribute to group writing activities. Be intentional during interactions with children and incorporate best practices. Promote the development of emergent writing—and emergent literacy—by implementing purposeful strategies that encourage writing in the classroom and at home. Teachers who provide young children with a diverse array of early writing experiences lay the foundation for kindergarten readiness.
As a preschool and Pre-K teacher I infuse my day with emergent writing activities. My writing center is fully stocked with paper, coloring sheets, markers, and photo name strips for name independent name writing practice. It is one of the busiest ‘free choice’ centers in my classroom.
Each day during circle time we have a favorite activity called ‘Name of the Day’ where a magnetic whiteboard is used for daily name practice for one lucky student. I rotate the names keeping careful track of which students have had a turn, and I increase the level of difficulty as the year and student’s skill progresses!
Every week as we introduce a new letter to study, we spend time practicing writing the letter through ‘sky writing’ with our ‘magic finger pens’, tracing the letter, coloring, painting, stamping, or using play dough to form the letter, and we always try some independent letter writing as well…sometimes with a special journal page for that week’s letter.
I include name writing practice and name recognition activities as we work towards independent name writing. The kids names are EVERYWHERE from coat hooks to placemats!
All of the activities I have mentioned promote emergent writing on a daily and weekly basis, but I have found that our journal activities serve as the best example of tracking and assessing the stages of emergent writing in my classroom and serve as an example of a true and organic progress throughout our school year. The kids LOVE journal time, and they show a sense of pride in their work and in the physical journal itself. 
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| Cover example |
We begin the year by decorating a plain 3-prong pocket folder with a name strip-the first attempt at name writing of the year, and tickers and drawings on the cover. Each week we will add a page or two to emphasize a letter we are learning, or a theme we are discussing that week. The journals start out with mostly drawings and teachers writing what the students dictate. Over time we will see an evolution in the details of their drawings, attempts at writing words, independent name writing, and copying words the teachers write on a separate paper or white board.
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| The kids love putting their own work in the pockets each week! |
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| I can assess pencil grip & other developmental standards during journal time too! |
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| This week we worked on our family theme! |
Talk about an amazing transformation!
I hope to take you all on this wonderful journey into emergent writing with me by showing lots of photos of my students progressing through the year on my blog! Hopefully it will inspire you to include journal time in your early childhood classroom. You can start anytime…you will NOT regret it! When it comes to kindergarten readiness, emergent writing is just as important as every other standard we need to cover! Make it a priority and your students will thrive!
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| I store our journals in a folder holder so they are always together and ready! I have created both an Alphabet Letter of the Week Journal set and a Themes and Holidays set in my TPT store to make the process easier for teachers. You can also purchase both as a bundle for endless journal writing options. I will include links at the end of this post.
I cannot stress enough how much of a positive impact journal writing has had with my Pre-K students! A other bonus I neglected to mention is that our journals become the perfect end of the year portfolio of progress for the kids to share with their parents. The end of the year is so busy and crammed with activities and special events. Busy teachers need something that is already done during that crazy time…writing journals will have your end of the year presentation DONE and ready to go!
Here’s the links to my time-saving Journal Writing resources!
I sincerely hope you try journals or something like it with your students this year…you will love it as much as your kiddos!
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