Journal 3
Grade K Time 7:45 – 1:15 Date 10/01/2012
List What occurred during the time you are at your school? What are all the things that happen in the time frame you are in your school?
• Meet with my teacher
• Morning meeting
• Reading centers
• Going to gym
• Prep for returning students
• Checking papers
• Getting students from gym
• Snack time
• Big book circle
• Going to lunch
• Getting students from playground.
• Poems
• Writing journals
Describe 1 item from the list, in GREAT detail – who, what, when, where, how, why
Today my focus is the writing journals the learners have been doing. They have been working on his task three days per week since the second week of school. It is a 6 step process:
1.The learner thinks about a sentence he/she wants to write about, specifically focusing on “Who?” and “Did what?”.
2.The learner tells a partner about their sentence.
3.The learner goes back to their desk and draws a picture of what he/she wants to write about.
4.The learner says and tests the sentence, with the teacher present, to determine the number of lines for words. (Lines are in blue).
5.The learner then, using sounding out, attempts to write to their best ability.
6.Finally, the teacher writes the sentence using “Big person words”.
This form of journaling teaches reading through writing. This being kindergarten, is the lowest level of the program. There are no expectations at this point which I feel could be bettered. The learners also practice sight words. I feel that these sight words should be integrated into the program and the learner should be expected to use them when they are in a sentence. Maybe this will happen later in the year and it is just a matter of getting the learner used to journaling at this point. Overall, I am told, this program works very well and is continued from k through 3rd grade with increasing difficulty.
