J is for Journaling: Building Skills How Tos.

My experiences:  When my youngest son was in speech therapy he was asked to keep a journal from week to week. Some of the entries were a picture of something he did or a sentence about the activity or a pamphlet glued in from a place we went to that he enjoyed.  He then took the journal to his small group session and the children would talk about the entry, building public speaking skills and leading to a question and answer session to help build up ability in that domain also.  It was a very effective activity that I would encourage people to try, especially over the summer. 

My older boys attended a school that kept a journal for their handwriting class that also served to assess their language and writing skills.  See?  There are so many benefits!  I recently found one and was delighted to read an entry about the qualities my son thought he had and his view of self at age nine.  It is a great piece of his history and brought back good memories.

Journal Post Ideas

If I took music classes, what instrument would I want to learn?

What is my favourite song/book and why do I like it?

Three things I am thankful for are.... (I suggest this one be done daily to develop an attitude of gratitude)

Someone I admire is ______________ because.....

I am interested in visiting ________ because....

Too young?  If your child is too young to write sentences, you could cut out pictures of their favourite foods, books or places they want to visit.  They can draw their favourite people or make a page of things that are their favourite colour.  These could be stickers, ad cutouts, drawings etc.  You can write their sentences for them or have them practice their letters by helping them to spell out a title for the entry.  You can also write in their journal developmental milestones they reach, cute phrases they said, new places they explored and so forth.  It will become a book of memories celebrating their life.

Ways to Help:  A journal is generally seen to be a personal record where spelling and grammar do not matter, only the expression of self is important.  However, if they have a topic, brainstorming vocabulary with them can be beneficial.  Asking questions like, what did you see? hear? taste? smell? may help them recollect their memories so they can record them. Listing descriptive words to help them find the right ones they want to use is also supportive.  There are a number of ways you can increase literacy skills while encouraging personal expression in their journals.  

Getting Started:  Selecting the journal (notebooks with fuzzy fabric covers or sequins or covered with a treefrog picture for example), choosing the colours of pens used and the style of the entries (pictures, key words, paragraphs) are some of the choices they have.  Making up a little kit to get them started may be a good incentive.  In addition to the journal, include some stickers, stamping materials, sparkly pens and whatever else fits their needs.  Setting up a time to do journaling each day or week is another way to encourage them to engage in the activity.  Reading it with them or sharing excerpts from yours may also encourage them.  If they are reluctant to begin, try doing it as a joint activity where you have 1:1 time and offer as much help as they desire.  Have a set time frame for the attempt and stick with it.  What I mean is, try to journal on Saturday mornings in July at 9:30am and persevere with it for July only.  If it is completed, that is a WIN! If they want to continue for August, carry on.  If not, then still praise the effort put into trying to journal and suggest you continue to do it once a month or on special occasions to keep the concept going but not making it into something dreaded but to celebrate it.  Keeping it positive will hopefully keep the door open for them to enjoy it at another point later on in life.

Introducing children to journaling and enjoying it yourself are a great means of self expression that build literacy skills and further improve skills useful in the academic world.  The positives make it a worthwhile activity to do with the child(ren) in your life!  Enjoy