Family message journals teach many purposes for writing
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=82
A lesson plan for grades K–2 English Language Arts
This lesson from ReadWriteThink describes the use of Family Message Journals. Family Message Journals are tools for learning, thinking, and self-expression. By writing several messages with varied purposes, students begin to experience that journal writing can serve many purposes-it can help them remember; make sense of new information and ideas; and recognize, develop, and share personal thoughts and reactions.
North Carolina Curriculum Alignment
English Language Arts (2004)
Grade 1
- Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
- Objective 4.04: Extend skills in using oral and written language:
- clarifying purposes for engaging in communication.
- using clear and precise language to paraphrase messages.
- engaging in more extended oral discussions.
- producing written products.
- completing graphic organizers.
- Objective 4.05: Write and/or participate in writing by using an author's model of language and extending the model (e.g., writing different ending for a story, composing an innovation of a poem).
- Objective 4.06: Compose a variety of products (e.g., stories, journal entries, letters, response logs, simple poems, oral retellings).
- Objective 4.04: Extend skills in using oral and written language:
- Goal 5: The learner will apply grammar and language conventions to communicate effectively.
- Objective 5.07: Use legible manuscript handwriting.
Grade 2
- Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
- Objective 4.06: Plan and make judgments about what to include in written products (e.g., narratives of personal experiences, creative stories, skits based on familiar stories and/or experiences).
- Goal 5: The learner will apply grammar and language conventions to communicate effectively.
- Objective 5.07: Use legible manuscript handwriting.
Kindergarten
- Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
- Objective 4.06: Write and/or participate in writing behaviors by using authors' models of language.
