Journal Date Stamp

One of my favorite things about teaching five year olds is watching them write in their journals. Several months ago some of these students only knew a few letters and sounds. Now they're actually composing sentences! It's amazing!

We work in our journals once a week during small groups.  I call three or four students at a time to my teacher table where they spend 15 to 20 minutes writing and illustrating. The kids can see the word wall and I'm there to help with sounding out words as needed.  I'm happy if they hear the beginning sound. It's a success if they write down the ending sound. And I'm over the moon, teacher crazy if they hear any middle sounds!

To track when we're writing in our journals, I use an old fashioned date stamp. I purchased this stamp at a local office supply store years ago when I taught Kindergarten.  It's one of the most useful little tools in my classroom. The kids stamp the date at the top of their journal page before we begin brainstorming what to write about. We don't waste time trying to write today's date. Instead, our focus is writing what's on our mind.

Now that you know this time saving tip using a date stamp, I just have to share a few of our journal pages, too!

I had toast

 

 



I like watermelon

 

I like dessert.

 

I like to be the line leader.

I'm very proud of the progress each student has made this year! I love looking through their journals, knowing they've come a long way and are now writers!