April Journal Prompts and How We Use Them!

Our Daily Journal Prompts for April are here and so is Spring!  There are so many good topics to write about during the month of April and here are just a few that are included in our Journal Prompts:

These journal prompts have been super helpful in providing opportunities to write on a daily basis.  I have received a few questions about our journal prompts and how we go about using them.

Question:
Do you have a structured writing plan for your daily journal prompts or do you just use the prompts as a free write?


Answer:
Very good question.  Sometimes we use the prompts in more structured way and sometimes Audrey just using them as an opportunity to write about the topic she is excited about.  For example, if there is a prompt about animals, Audrey has a ton of things to say and she really doesn’t need or want my input.  I encourage her to write freely.  She is all over those topics!

Question:
What do you do about spelling.  Does your daughter ask you how to spell every word or do you encourage the sounding it out method?

Answer:
Another great question! When we first started doing our Daily Journal Prompts, Audrey was a bit timid in her writing abilities.  She would ask me how to write every other word and I would help her, but I also try encourage her to sound it out since her phonics skills are really good.

Thoughts to consider:
A word wall can really benefit beginning writers and provide the support and confidence they need.  Over time and with enough practice, the words displayed on the word wall can be spelled and read automatically.

I would consider high frequency words (sight words) a very important component to a word wall, since they comprise of the most common words in the english language.

We also use graphic organizers for writing, which does help to create a more structured writing piece.  Here is an example of a graphic organizer that we use for the main idea and some details about penguins.  Since we recently read a lot about penguins, this was a perfect topic to write about.

I have been getting our journal prompts spiral bound so that I can have them as a keepsake 🙂  As a mommy, these are precious, and they will also allow me to see her growth as a writer.

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