Shared Writing Journals

I have used shared writing journals in my classroom before, but the kids never really wrote a lot in them.  Well I decided to change how mine look.   I know there are a bunch of teachers out there who have made signs you can put on journals this summer (I Teach What is Your Super Power has some really cute ones), but I wanted some to fit my classroom.  I used super cute graphics that I know will get my students to WANT to write in them.

I started out making a few and the next thing I know I made 15 of them!  I have topics like:  favorite book, vacation memory,favorite food, third grade, favorite movie, a scary time, a favorite hobby, etc. 

So now that they look cute, what am I going to do to entice the students?  I decided I would start out with 5 and gradually bring out a few more at a time.  You know if I set all 15 out there I would have journal writing overload with my students.  I am going to use this during my writing time in my reading block.  I was also thinking it could be fun if I passed out some and had the children buddy up and write a page together (great getting to know you activity).

Here is a picture of my finished journals.  I just printed the pages on paper.  I trimmed them and then used packing tape to tape the entire cover.  This way I knew they would not get ripped off of the covers or written on.  I know some people use composition notebooks but two reasons why I decided not to:  1) they haven't gone on sale by me yet and 2) I figured the students can use the front and backs of the notebook (and folding over the page for them to write on is impossible in a composition notebook).

If you are interested click on this picture, it will take you to my TPT store where I have them for sale.