Each Friday I prepare a form that looks like this:
_________________________
__________________________________,
"This week in kindergarten I ......."
(a paragraph about the week...assemblies, special projects, count down to the 100th day, etc.) And it always ends with a question like...did you celebrate the 100th day of school when you were in kindergarten?
___________________________________
The kids write the date on the first line, "Dear" Mom, Dad or someone else who lives in their house that is old enough to read and write on the second line. The final line is for, "Love, ______" They glue the form onto the left page of the journal and take it home.
The parent's job is to write a letter on the opposite page- and read it back to their child. About 50% of the parents take it serious. Those who do end up with a wonderful keepsake at the end of the year. Those who are fluent in another language besides English respond in their first language. After all, the journal is not for me, but a keepsake.
Several years back, I had a student whose parent was elderly. The parent wrote wonderful responses and told of days in school when there was one elementary school in our town. The summer following, the parent passed away. Those stories in the journal, even if they had been told to the student would most likely not be remembered by that five year old. The other parent expressed how happy they were to have those stories for their kid.
Since I have not done this with first graders, I am thinking that after winter break the students will be able to write the journal letter on their own. The first part of kindergarten is Hell trying to get the journal entries completed. There's a lot of explaining and re-explaining and erasing and and it takes A LOT of patience. After a month or two what once took 20+ minutes to complete then takes about 5 minutes or less for those who get right to work.
*LIVESTRONG*LOVESTRONGER*LAUGH HARDER*WRITE AN OLD FASHIONED LETTER*
6 comments:
I LOVE this idea!! You did, however, just bring back flashbacks of Journal Hell with the kinders. You're so right, it's torturous in the beginning of the year. Oy! I think your firsties will love it.
I just realized I didn't re-follow you on the "new" blog, so I quickly fixed that. :)
Love it! Thanks for sharing. And yes I think your 1st graders will be able to do it independently. Such a touching story.
What a sweet memory maker for your kiddo's.
We still go back and read the kids journals/school work from Elementary school; it means so much.
YOU rock!!!
Oh, you are indeed a family historian at heart. This journal project is also a good incubator for future bloggers.
I love this idea! It's brilliant! I am going to try and get this going with my class too - thanks :) I think your first grade is similar to our Yr 1 (5-6?) In which case I would say they could write part of the letter themselves after the first term, and most would be able to write all of it by the end of the year. I know all the ages and things are different though, so not sure how much help I'm being!x
I love this idea so much. You make me miss being a teacher. Thank you for doing such a great job and for making a difference in the world. I appreciate you.
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