Primary dictionaries are used for the students to spell words correctly. Teacher directed writing would be connecting the journal page writing to a story that was read during Reading instruction. The students would write about what it would be like if they shrunk to his size. On the 100th Day of School the students would write about what they have learned so far in class. For Math-money, the students would write about what they would do with a certain amount of money.
Students then read their sentences to the cross- age tutors and illustrate the sentences.
When the sentence writing and illustrations are complete, the students date stamp their paper and come over to a designated area and sit in an open circle. The pages are kept by the students in a folder. On the fifth day, the students choose one of the four journal pages to be put in the weekly newspaper. The teacher collects and keeps all of the journal pages. The sloppy copy is kept by the student to be refined and rewritten.