Stories with Stan - What Do You Do With a Problem
I hope this post finds you all doing well and that your family has been able to enjoy some great books and literacy activities while listening to Stories with Stan! Have you ever experienced a problem? We all have or will at some point in our lives. "What do you do with a problem?" teaches us that every problem has an opportunity for something good. You just have to look for it. Enjoy!
Literacy Activity 5: Journal
Right now, it's safe to say that most of us have a problem. Journaling give us a healthy outlet to express our feelings about that problem. Everything Mom lists some of the benefits of journaling for your kids:
Strengthen Writing and Communication Skills - Jounaling will naturally inspire your child's desire to write and their skills will improve more and more as they continue.
Improve Reading Comprehension - Rereading their own work will help them to find and correct errors, leading to self improvement.
Make Writing a Regular Exercise - Writing is not supposed to be traumatic, just an opportunity for self expression, they can include pictures, pieces of nature, or anything else they want.
Stimulate Creativity - Journaling helps develop story telling skills.
See the Other Side of the Story - Once they can see the problem on paper, it's easier to analyze what happened, come to rational feelings, and see the situation from different perspectives.
Express thoughts meaningfully
Improve Attention to Detail - Writing will especially help them to improve their spelling skills.
It’s so important for kids to write about the things they are doing/learning as well as the memories that they want to remember. If your kids aren’t journaling yet, now is the perfect time to start! The plus side is that kids will get to sort through how they feel about this period, when they start journaling. Be prepared to answer a lot of questions as I am sure you’re already doing! Years from now it will be great to have first-hand accounts of what your family experienced during the quarantine.
Topics to Journal About
What did you learn today?
What are you grateful for?
What problems are you facing?
What opportunity for good did you find in your problem?
What was your favorite part of your day?
For more ideas, Journal Buddies has a great list of journaling topics and creative writing prompts. Have fun with your journals and “Always remember to be kind, and never judge a person, or a book, by their covers” -Stan Tucker