PARSIPPANY-TROY HILLS — On the last day of the 2016-2017 school year Northvail students were given a journal to encourage them to write. A letter was sent home accompanying the journals outlining guidelines, topic suggestions, and explanations of different types of writing and literary devices to use in their journal based on lessons from the school year. The students returned their completed journals in the first few days of school. Jeff Martens, principal at Northvail, periodically reached out to parents and students via the school messenger service to inspire them to write.
A summer journal is one of the best ways for teachers to get to know students very early in September because they provide an important source of information about skills and writing strategies. This allows teachers to personalize each child’s educational experience by incorporating material learned from the journals into various lessons. Students also benefit by writing in a journal because it enhances self-reflection, facilitates critical thought, helps to express feelings, and may provide an opportunity to focus on presenting clear persuasive arguments. In addition, journal writing not only reinforces creativity, but also increases vocabulary and sentence usage.
Northvail is very happy to report that about two-thirds of our entire student population returned their summer journals. Some students even returned more than one! On behalf of Principal Martens and the entire teaching staff we would like to thank our parents for supporting both writing and reading as necessary and fun summer activities. Northvail is looking forward to a very dynamic writing school year!
