Success in Scribbles: How Journaling Builds a Foundation for Pre-K Learners

For students in pre-kindergarten, every day of learning sets the stage for a lifetime of academic discovery. For pre-k students at Purl Elementary, daily journaling is a building block for the cognitive and fine motor skills essential to a strong educational foundation.

“It’s so important for pre-k students to have a secure start as they enter kindergarten and beyond,” Shavawn Gibbs, Pre-K Teacher at Purl said. “Every activity we do in this classroom serves the purpose of building the best foundation for learning we possibly can.”

Students in Gibbs class are between the ages of 3-5, so every student is on an individualized learning path. When it comes to journaling, students have varied goals that they work toward on a daily basis.

“During journal time, we might have some students who scribble with crayons, some who draw lines, and some who trace their names,” Gibbs said. “Whatever it is that the student is writing, it is all a step in their journey of building fine motor skills.”

One student in Gibbs’ class has mastered tracing her first name with a crayon, so she has moved on to tracing her last name during journal time. Another student began the year only wanting to scribble during journal time, but has now moved on to drawing crosses – practicing more controlled small lines and big lines. 

“A lot of people don’t think about the importance of students learning how to hold a pencil or a crayon properly,” Gibbs said. “If a student enters kindergarten not having the fine motor strength to do that, it is going to put them behind in learning the curriculum.”

While it is fun for pre-k students to sing-along, create with play doh and build with legos, these activities build fine motor skills that translate over to writing, holding a book, working a math problem and other fundamental tasks that lay ahead of them in their education. 

“Every student at Purl, pre-k through 5th, is journaling. It reminds students that we write all day, in everything we do.” Mindy Choate, Purl Principal said. “The really cool thing about this initiative in pre-k is that we are teaching that with our youngest learners.” 

“Imagination starts with the writing process,” Gibbs said. “Not only are we building essential skills, but we are cultivating imagination in these kids and creating powerful storytellers.”