The first journal entry

Becca and I sat down over the weekend and she drafted her first journal entry.  As proud of her as I am, I must say her skills have come a long way this year.

I should preface this blog by saying that I have been teaching my daughter how to write for more than a year and a half.  When Becca entered kindergarten, I began teaching writing to the K-5 classes, of which Becca's class was one.  So, at the beginning of 2009, Becca began taking my class once a week.  This year, I see her once every eight days.  Her growth as a writer has been on par, or better, than her peers, but something I had only seriously looked at it in the last few weeks as something that we could do together.

Maybe it has something to do with her reading.  I've always promoted that Reading and Writing go hand in hand.  Becca's reading skyrocketed within the last few months.  She's now reading books that interested first graders, like Junie B. Jones and Cam Jansen, third grade leveled chapter books.  One of the ways our school checks comprehension is through the Accelerated Reader program.  Becca excels at this as well.

It's hard to ignore my daughter's request for writing.  In thinking of something for her to write about, I asked Becca to write about her craft activity she had just completed with her mother (the entry she circled).  She sat down and wrote nearly a half page.  On the second day, she added to the entry (the bottom half of the page).  We're still working on adding the date.