Home Journal
The Home Journal is a homework piece that begins in January. Below is a summary of the assignment. The writing in this journal should always be a response to literature.
Important Home Journal Information!
Dear Parents,
In addition to the reading log, the first grade team is introducing a home journal assignment. We wanted to take the time to give the details of this assignment as to avoid any confusion, as well as encourage some excitement for this new goal. We all know how important a balanced approach to reading and writing is, and this assignment will help to achieve exactly that.
We want this to be an enjoyable experience, so we are making suggestions as to how to keep up with the purpose of the journal. We are recommending your students use books from their on-going reading logs in order to write entries in their journals. We suggest your student write 1-2 entries a week in the journal. You may choose to complete these whenever it is most convenient.
The entries are meant to be responses to literature. They can be a summary of a book, a summary of a main character, the moral of the story, or their opinion of a book. Here are some ideas for journal prompts:
These entries are meant to be a fun activity that introduce and reinforce writing skills. The focus should be on using literature for various learning objectives. It should be noted that seeing your child’s writing on the regular will give you an abundance of information about their grammar skills, spelling and sight word knowledge, and the organization of their ideas.
When your teacher reviews the journals, she will be looking for complete sentences, periods, capitals, spelling corrections, letter formation, and overall neatness. Please remember to have your student write in pencil.
Lastly, remember to always find ways to praise, as well as challenge, your student!
Sincerely,
The First Grade Team
Important Home Journal Information!
Dear Parents,
In addition to the reading log, the first grade team is introducing a home journal assignment. We wanted to take the time to give the details of this assignment as to avoid any confusion, as well as encourage some excitement for this new goal. We all know how important a balanced approach to reading and writing is, and this assignment will help to achieve exactly that.
We want this to be an enjoyable experience, so we are making suggestions as to how to keep up with the purpose of the journal. We are recommending your students use books from their on-going reading logs in order to write entries in their journals. We suggest your student write 1-2 entries a week in the journal. You may choose to complete these whenever it is most convenient.
The entries are meant to be responses to literature. They can be a summary of a book, a summary of a main character, the moral of the story, or their opinion of a book. Here are some ideas for journal prompts:
- How does this book make you feel? Why? (Give Evidence)
- Which character are you most like? How?
- What is the problem in the story? How is it solved?
- What is the setting of the story? What evidence do you have?
- What is the author trying to teach you? (Author's purpose) What have you learned?
- Is there a character that misbehaves? How could the character make better choices?
These entries are meant to be a fun activity that introduce and reinforce writing skills. The focus should be on using literature for various learning objectives. It should be noted that seeing your child’s writing on the regular will give you an abundance of information about their grammar skills, spelling and sight word knowledge, and the organization of their ideas.
When your teacher reviews the journals, she will be looking for complete sentences, periods, capitals, spelling corrections, letter formation, and overall neatness. Please remember to have your student write in pencil.
Lastly, remember to always find ways to praise, as well as challenge, your student!
Sincerely,
The First Grade Team
Help for Parents:
Book Talks are very similar to the discussions that we hope you can have with your student at least once a week. https://www.weareteachers.com/what-is-a-book-talk/