Write Night Journals

My third graders aren't required to write a friendly letter but they were a required writing product for them when they were second graders. I have found that while they remember the format, they tend to forget how to apply it when writing letters for book responses, which they are required to write in third grade. I wanted to provide lots of opportunities for my students to practice writing proper letter format as it is an extremely important skill so I created Write Night Journals for my students.

Originally I called them Third Grade Journals, but I liked the way Write Night sounded better so I switched it this year. Each month I require my students to write a friendly letter to a family member (using the paper I include in the folder) discussing important events in school. The first few letters are done with support from me in class. We brainstorm ideas to include in our letters that capture the events of the month. Then I allow my students time to begin their letters. I remind them of the the second grade requirements, so that I don't get any two liners. As the year progresses, they become pretty independent with their letters and we even discuss new requirements that we decide upon as a class, such as underline book titles if you use one in your letter, use commas when listing, and capitalize proper nouns. These are just a few examples that worked for my class as they are conventions that I expect them to use in their daily writing by the end of the school year.

When their letters are completed, they send them home for their families to read and respond to (using the response paper I include in the folder). This allows families to take a peek into our classroom from home and learn about what their kids thought was important for the month. It allows provides my students with the opportunity to have real correspondence modeled from an audience that is important to them. The best part about the Write Night Journals is that students and their families have a great keepsake memory of their third grade year!

I set the Write Night Journal up for the entire year so that each student letter is followed by the parent letter for that month. I tried to have kids add a new letter each month but it was a pain so I decided that it was worth my time in the Fall to prepare the folders ahead of time.

I chose not to grade the letters for content, so I didn't include a rubric. However, I always took a homework grade and a writing conventions grade. I gave families two weeks to read and respond to their students letters. If you are interested in taking a peek at how I present it to families, view this link to a page on my classroom website with more details.

Finally, here is a copy of the student and parent response letter template that I use with my class. Grab it if you can use it! But wait, that is not all I have to say in this post...scroll down for details about my giveaway.




Also, don't forget about my big...


Some lucky winner will receive a $25.00 gift card to use at one of my favorite home stores.



See the post below for details!