This year, when I introduced journals in my 4K classroom, I noticed that a lot of my students were struggling to come up with a writing topic. I always begin writing, by modeling a journal entry myself. Often times, my students were taking my idea and writing it in their journals too, even if it did not pertain to them.
After that, I knew my students needed help coming up with writing topics. I thought it would be a good idea for the students to work collaboratively on this. We made a class web of all of the different topics that included: family/ friends, holidays, camping, pets, the ice cream shop, etc.
I found this to be very beneficial for my students. Every time they struggle to come up with a writing topic, I refer them to the web that we made as a class. I have seen a lot more enthusiasm for writing in my class by doing this.
I also give my students time to share their ideas with each other. I set a timer for writing and when the timer dings, they may talk about their journal entry and share what they wrote about with the friends at their table.
See web below!
-Kristen Cochran
I really like that you were using collaborative learning with your K4 students. I've noticed that younger students sometimes seem to struggle with collaboration but by starting it so early, they learn how to accept one another's ideas and how to compromise. This is also a great strategy because they have to process the information then share it which will help them get to a deeper level of thinking. -Crissy Harris
ReplyDeleteHaving an anchor chart of writing ideas is a great idea, and I love that they worked collaboratively to create it. Have you revisited the class web of ideas since creating it to add more ideas to it? Or have your students done well coming up with their own ideas that are not on the chart for writing since they have had that starting point?
ReplyDeleteHi Kristen,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the ways that you take the strategies and structures you are learning about in your graduate course work and apply them in developmentally appropriate ways with your preschoolers. This example of shared writing where you provided students with the opportunity to discuss their ideas and brainstorm together helped scaffold their writing and provided support for social interactions as well.
Sincerely,
Dawn
I love the idea of journals in 4K and am wondering about doing something similar now we are approaching the end of 3K! Thinking about the talking picture idea from this class, I wondered about giving each child a small notebook, and at the end of center time and the end of class, letting them "record" what they did : they could draw a picture of their block structures or what the doll house looked like when they finished setting it up; or they could dictate something for me to write about what they did, to share with their parents. As they play together, they could collaborate, by discussing with their peers what they want to write about
ReplyDeleteI had also considered having them respond to the books we read in class - maybe these are some ideas you can add to your writing topics, too?
Kristin thanks for sharing these great ideas! I think doing the web chart with my students may really help them as well and provide a visual reminder to help them. I really like the idea of giving them time to share ideas with their friends! I never really thought to do that before, they could even start a list and then everyone could share something different off their list to add to the web! I have really been working on setting aside time for "student talk", I realize this is such an important part of learning!
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