Teaching writing in the classroom

In my son's kindergarten classroom his teacher had the students keep a daily journal. Each student had a notebook dedicated to this purpose that kept at school. We, the parents, got to see the notebook at the open house and again when it came home for the summer. 

The notebook was a great way to not only give the students a place to "journal" but it was also a fabulous keep sake for the parents to see their child's progress over the course of the year, and I would venture to say that kindergarten is probably the year of the most progress for most students; going from barely knowing your alphabet to writing thoughts and sentences is amazing. 

At the start of the year the journal basically consisted of the students copying from the board, the day of the week, month, and year, as well as their name. As time progressed and the date and name were perfected different items were added to the journal. Next it was the weather that day, then it was the season or mention of an upcoming holiday. By the end of the year the students were writing mini paragraphs. The date, their name, the weather, upcoming holidays, and something personal, such as what the did over the weekend (or were going to do) or something about their family, mention of a sibling or a parent. 

At first the idea of kindergartners journaling seemed ridiculous. But they way this teacher broke it up into little bits, it was completely doable by the end of the year. I think having students keep a journal is an excellent idea in any grade. It can be something that is heavily emphasized and checked daily or it can be something that is checked on a weekly or even monthly basis. Either way its a good way to keep students writing. To offer them an outlet to unload without restriction.