A CVC Labeling Journal

First Kindergarten Writing Journal

I am a big fan of writing and want my kindergartners to also be writers! After learning how to write our names (many of my students have not mastered this skill before starting), we start a very simple CVC journal. I believe in progression and writing needs to be built upon to develop confident and happy writers. This is the very first writing journal we do in class. As the year continues, our writing becomes more complex. Majority of my students want to go to the writing table for reading and writing free time. (The time when they finish their assignment early.)

Teach 10 Standards in under 10 Minutes! Keep reading!

My Lesson for this journal:

As a class, we complete one page a day using a doc camera. We look at the picture and the students decide how to label it. (This is how I introduce labeling as a writing skill.) This is when I teach my students how to break apart the words into sounds, identify sounds, and write the letter.

I introduce breaking apart words into sounds by using my hand. “We are labeling PIG. Let’s make the sounds in PIG. /p/ . . . /i/ . . . /g/. We will do a roller coaster action to break apart the words. Show how to put the hand to start the roller coaster. Then roller coaster the hand up and back down.

We are labeling PIG. Let’s make the first sounds in PIG. Hand up. /p/ (while preparing for the roller coaster) What letter makes the /p/ sound? Students say c. Next, I show them how to correctly form the letter on the first line.

Moving on.

We are labeling PIG. Let’s make the sounds in PIG again. Hand up. (Hand up.) /p/ (prep roller coaster ) . . . /i/ (roller coaster the hand up to middle and stop) What letter makes the /i/ sound? Students say i. We write the i on the middle line.

What are we labeling? PIG Let’s make the sounds in PIG again. Hand up. /p/ (while prepping roller coaster) /i/ (roller coaster the hand up to middle and stop) /g/ (dropping hand down to end roller coaster) What letter makes the /g/ sound? Students say g. Next, I show them how to correctly form the letter on the last line.

Finally, I ask my students to put their finger up (Pencil down, finger up) Then we point under each letter and make the sounds. /p/. . . /i/ . . . /g/. Next, we SLIDE our finger under the letters and work on blending those sounds smoother. /p/. . /i/ . ./g/. Then read the word /pig/.

To conclude the journal, we read the sentence together. The students are given a couple minutes to color the picture.

As the class gets better at the pages, you can increase to 2 pages if you feel the need.

Differentiating is important, so I have a simpler journal that I copy for the few students that may struggle with attention from white board to paper or the ones that struggle with forming letters.

I love this first journal because it reinforces and teaches all of the following standards:

Labeling skill in writing
Letter names CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.1.d
Letter sounds CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.3.a
How to write letters CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K.1.a
Practicing phonemic awareness of first, middle, ending sounds (breaking apart the word) CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.2.d
Practicing blending CVC words CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.2.c
1 to 1 pointing left to right CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.1.a
Reading sight words in the sentence. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.3.c
Reading to find out what color to color the picture (purpose) and check for understanding. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.4
Optional: introduce a single syllable (I like to clap syllables) CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.2.b

On the last page, you can use the word to introduce the standard of how changing one letter in the word can make a new word completely!

You can grab a copy from TeachersPayTeachers. It has 4 pages for each of the 5 vowels, so there are a total of 20 pages to cover 5 weeks of learning. If you are full day kindergarten or 1st grade, you may choose to complete 2 pages a day. You could even mix and match the vowels if using after this concept has been established.