Books to Teach and Motivate Journal Writing
Grades
3–5, 6–8
![]() |
From Unit Plan: Journal Writing from a Graphic Timeline
These books were chosen to teach or inspire journal writing.
Teacher’s Resources:
25 Prewriting Graphic Organizers & Planning Sheets by Jane Roberts
These great tools for organization are accompanied with standards-based lessons.
Classroom Tip: Story mapping and timeline organizers are perfect tools for first draft writing.
350 Fabulous Writing Prompts by Jacqueline Sweeney
Thought provoking beginnings for meaningful journal writing
Classroom Tip: Reflective prompts that deal with real-life feelings and issues.
Graphic Organizers by Karen Bromley, Marcia Modlo, Linda Irwin-DeVitis
An essential classroom resource and timesaver.
Classroom Tip: This book is full of easy to use graphic organizers, like the Timeline organizer used in Lesson Two.
Teaching Memoir Writing by Perdita Finn
Mini-lessons to inspire writing.
Classroom Tip: Use the guidelines to “Starting a Writer’s Notebook” when introducing journal writing. Also, there are some interesting variations on the “Who Am I?” worksheet and the Graphic Timeline.
Workshops That Work! by Kirsten Widmer and Sarah Buxton
Mini-lessons to establish a positive writers workshop
Classroom Tip: For more variations on collecting information for journal writing, this book offers great ideas for creating life maps.
Books for the Classroom:
Absolutely Normal Chaos by Sharon Creech
The heroine of the book keeps a summer journal as a class assignment.
Max’s Mystical Logbook by Marissa Moss
An entertaining read aloud book about Max’s journal; perfect for the first week of school.
Classroom Tip: A fun book to share in the introduction to journal writing. Other great books by Moss to introduce journal writing include: Rachel’s Journal: The Story of a Pioneer Girl and Amelia’s Notebook.
Dear America, My America, My Name Is America, and the Royal Diaries Series
View a checklist of all the available books.
Classroom Tip: These books teach our history in the journal style writing of young American heroes. The books can be used to examine different styles of memoir writing.
