Our January Writing

Every month my kids write in their keepsake journals.  These journals document their writing over the course of the year.  At the end of the year, they will be able to see how much they have grown and learned as writers.  They will also get to take them home, and their parents will have a very concrete idea of just how much change has happened in one year!  :)

This month (well, last month) with all of the two hour delays, we ran out of time.  So today, instead of working on handwriting, we worked on our year-long journals.  We wrote about our January Me's.  I try to encourage them to write about any things they liked to do, special people, special events, or things they especially liked the most during the past month.   This month, my kids mostly wrote about snow, cold weather, and two hour delays (I know we've had our fill of them).

Well, as I was walking around and looking to help kids, I noticed something:  my kids are becoming writers.  MY kids are becoming real WRITERS!!! I love this time of year!  Despite the cold, miserable, icky, dreary, annoying, frustrating weather, you can really see your kinders starting to TAKE OFF!  :)  I feel so proud.

Anyway, I thought I would share some of their writing with you.  Here are a few of my favorites from the day:

I love that most kids spell drink with a j no matter how many times you talk about blends....  Also, notice the ING in drink.  We've been working on the ing sound in some of my groups.

This student has shown a lot of growth, and I am so proud of his writing.  I wish the picture had been closer up, but I was trying not to interfere too much with the work that was going on.

Again, drink with a j...

Pretty close to perfect!  :)  Getting there....  could add more detail, but there isn't much room on the page.

Blue snow :)

This kid was a move in and didn't know many of his letters just a few months ago.  He did all of this without ANY of my help...whoa.

He was tired of the two hour delays.  Me too.

Writing is getting so much better!  I cannot wait to see what the rest of the year brings - so much more learning ahead!  Also, I did not create these journals, and I would LOVE to give credit where credit is due, but I cannot for the life of me remember where I got them.  I will look at them when I get to work tomorrow and try to figure it out.  If you recognize these journals, please leave a comment!  Thanks for your help!