Literacy

Journal s

Every Monday morning the students write in their own journals. They are able to write anything as long as it's true and about themselves. They can write on anything, with anything as long as it is stuck into their journal and it is neat and legible. They can also add illustrations and borders but the stipulation is that they have to have finished their writing. I find that the students enjoy this immensely and are very disappointed if we do something different on Monday morning! This is great feedback for me. I still have one or two that complain they have nothing to write. I need to get them to make something like a writer's heart to help them with ideas if they have had a "boring weekend".

Emails The children are emailing another student from a school in Kansas, America. They have been carefully matched with someone of similar interests and abilities. They are VERY excited about this and we always know when someone gets mail by the shouts of glee when they check their emails! Initially I expected them to write their email on paper before sending it but it has taken too long so they now type their message directly into the computer. The students use their computer time during reading to check and write their emails. They have had to think about asking questions, answering questions and because of time constraints, how to share something about themselves in a succinct way. They are now getting more contacts from family and friends to add to their address book.

August I am pleased to say the students are still keen journal writers. We have continued the routine of Monday morning journal writing and a few parents of the more reluctant writers are supporting this with conversations at home before school about what they could write about. Some have even brainstormed ideas on a scrap piece of paper or sent photos to help. This really helps the battlers. We have also widened our entries to include things such as "my most embarrassing day", "my favourite place", "things that make me feel good" etc. The children are still bringing things from home to paste in their journals.

The students also love Quick Writes. A topic is given and the class participates in some brainstorming and discussion about the topic. The students are given 5 minutes to plan and then they must write for 30 minutes. I am always pleasantly surprised with the quality of stories they produce when they don't have a chance to "ramble" too much.

Lianne has started a spelling program that focuses on a particular spelling pattern every day for a week. We have had a few interruptions but the children are enjoying the challenges and routines she has set them. It will be interesting to see the data at the end of the program as some pretesting was done. My challenge is to continue this myself when Lianne has finished. I am confident this can be done. November

November We have continued our focus on spelling since Lianne finished her program in our room. We have focussed on a particular letter pattern each week and the students have become conscientious about adding to the list whenever a word with that letter pattern appears in their reading or writing. The data from Liannes pre and post testing is encouraging and certainly makes it worthwhile pursuing.