I recently ran across a box containing stuff from when I was a kid. I had so much fun looking at the old photos, drawings, and school projects. But what I found the most interesting was a journal that I kept while I was in elementary school. It was fun to see how I used inventive spelling. But it was even more entertaining to see what I wrote about. I must have had a thing for Holly Hobbie, because I had pictures of her on almost every page!

My students wrote or drew in their journals every day. Most of my students loved to share their entries. But there were always a few kids who had a hard time getting started. Those kids were my inspiration for selecting the ideas in the “What Works for You?” department in the February/March issue of the kindergarten edition of The Mailbox® magazine. I included tips to inspire your youngsters’ writing as well as ideas for making journals. My favorite idea is from Kelly in Bartlett, Tennessee. She cuts 70-page spiral notebooks in half to use as journals in her classroom. She makes two kindergarten-sized journals from one notebook! Now, that’s thinking!

So what works for you at journal time? Or better yet, what’s not working for you at journal time that we can help you fix?

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