The Children's Day Journals

Through this student teaching internship, I've realized how much I love the students' journals. I don't know if this applies to other grades but I love first grade journals! My students write in their journals about once a week and they are always their best writing samples! I get to see such wonderful glimmers of the writers they will grow into and I get to see the very best of them as little people - their heart, their imagination, their sense of humor... their journals are always the highlight of my week!

On Tuesday, I put this prompt up on the board-

Monday was Universal Children's Day and my students had been talking a lot about children around the world and what Children's Day means. Some of my students thought Children's Day should be a holiday - wouldn't that be fun!? Maybe one day... :) For their journals, I asked them to write about a gift they would give to every child around the world if they could. This opened a great conversation about gifts you can buy versus gifts you can't buy and wants versus needs. I was really impressed by their ability to critically think about what all kids need and their journals just melted my heart! So, of course, I'm sharing some of the best ones with you today!

"I would give all kids comfort" this one is the very reason I am sharing these journals with you today! How sweet is that!?

"I would give all kids love"

"I would give all kids a bae" This one had all the adults in the room cracking up! This student is about to have a baby brother and it is all he can talk about! He tried to sound out baby on his own and wrote bae! I love it!

"I would give all kids a hug"

"I would give all kids kindness"

"I would give all kids a warm bed with lots of blankets" I mean, are these melting your heart or what?

"I would give all kids a book"

"I would give all kids a family"

"I would give all kids a friend"

"I would give all kids a cat" ha! I cannot get in on this, but I'm sure many kids would love having a cat! 

"I would give all kids a sweater"

"I would give all kids a teddy bear"

"I would give all kids lots of lego" Do you remember this kiddo from my last post about journals? Every single one of his journals is about lego! It is all lego all the time with this one!

"I would give all kids a school"

"I would give all kids a big brother" I ran this journal right upstairs to show his big brother. He was not at all touched by the journal, but I'm sure one day he will realize how much his little brother loves him! 

I was so blown away by these journals especially because these kids 'get it.' They know what our world needs. I really expected them to write about material things, but so few of them did! Somehow they know that kids benefit most from things that can't be bought. These journals made me so proud and so excited for what these kiddos will do with tomorrow. I am so confident that they will do amazing things for our world!

If you could give a gift to children all over the world, what would you give? I've been thinking a lot about this lately, but I would love to hear your answers in the comments!