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Best Idea Ever: Curriculum Wheel Journal

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Anne S. Robertson still has fond memories of the reciprocal journal activity her daughter's teacher introduced ten years ago. Each week, the teacher provided each child with a "curriculum wheel" that briefly listed the subjects and content studied in the classroom that week. Students stapled the wheel onto a page in their journals, wrote about one of the things they had studied, and then took the journal home so parents could see what was being studied. Parents read what their child had written in the journal, and then responded to by writing in the journal as well. The reciprocal journal, Robertson noted, informed parents about curriculum topics, invited children and parents to communicate with one another, and supplied children with writing opportunities without the pressure of a grade. The activity also encouraged creativity and sharing of ideas between parents and children and provided the teacher with insight into each child's family.

Submitted by: Anne S. Robertson.

 

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