It is a January morning, and the room is quiet in the way it only is in January, when the holidays are over and the year has settled. A child is sitting at a table with a journal open, a pencil in one hand and a picture word bank in front of her. The prompt is about a snowman, and the word bank has a picture of a snowman, a hat, a scarf, a carrot and the snow. She looks at the word bank, finds the word for the hat, and writes her sentence. She does not ask the teacher how to spell it. She does not need to. The word bank is the spelling, and the sentence is hers.
The January Writing Prompts is built for that morning, twenty-four times over. It has 24 winter journal prompts in 2 levels, with picture word banks and I Can posters. The prompts cover a New Year goal, an I Have a Dream prompt for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, snowmen, hot cocoa, penguins, polar bears, snow days and more. Students practice narrative, opinion, informative and how-to writing, and every page shows which type it is. The pages are black and white on US Letter paper, and the listing states 66 pages. The grade range is kindergarten through 2nd grade: Level 1 for kindergarten, Level 2 for 1st and 2nd grade; the listing's Highlights field says PreK–1st. The description says the prompts support the K–2 writing standards, and no codes are named. No answer key row appears in the listing's Highlights section, and none is mentioned in the description.
What the January Prompts Are
Twenty-four prompts, each in both levels, and the set is built to run as a daily journal for the whole month. A prompt a day, Monday to Friday, and the month has a shape: the first week is the New Year goal and the snowman, the second week is the penguins and the polar bears, the third week is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and the last week is the snow days and the hot cocoa. The weekly plan lays out the order, and the prompt list with page numbers makes it easy to find the day's prompt.
The prompts are written for January, and January is the hardest month to keep writing going. The holidays are over, the days are short, and the children are tired. A prompt about a snow day is a prompt the children want to write about, because they have lived it, and a prompt about hot cocoa is a prompt they can smell. The prompts work because they are about the children's lives, and a child who writes about their own life writes more than a child who writes about a topic they have never met.
Every prompt page shows which writing type it is — narrative, opinion, informative or how-to — and the type is the teaching. A child who writes a narrative about a snow day and an opinion about the best hot cocoa is learning that writing has types, and the types have shapes. The prompt list with page numbers is the teacher's part, and it is worth reading before the month starts.
The Two Levels
Level 1 is for kindergarten: traced sentence starters on primary lines and a 5-picture word bank. Level 2 is for 1st and 2nd grade: printed sentence starters, more lines and a 6-picture word bank. Both levels have a drawing box and an I Can checklist for self-checking, so a child can plan, write and check their own work on the same page.
The difference between the levels is the support, not the topic. Both levels in the January Writing Prompts write about the same snowman, the same penguin, the same snow day — and that sameness is the point. A kindergarten class and a 1st grade class can write about the same prompt on the same day, and a mixed class can write at two levels without anyone knowing whose is easier. The topic is shared, and the support is what differs.
Use the levels as a ladder, not a track. A kindergartener who is writing the Level 1 starters easily is a child who is ready for Level 2, and the teacher who moves them is teaching them that they are ready. A 1st grader who is struggling with the printed starters is a child who needs Level 1 for a week, and the move down is not a failure — it is a support, and the support is what makes the writing possible. The levels are there to be moved between, and the moving is the teaching.
The Word Banks and the I Can Checklist
The picture word bank is the part that makes the writing independent. A child who cannot spell "snowman" can find the picture of the snowman in the bank, copy the word, and keep writing. The bank is the spelling, and the spelling is the thing that stops most young writers. A child who stops to ask how to spell a word has stopped writing, and a child who finds the word in the bank has not stopped at all. The 5-picture bank in Level 1 and the 6-picture bank in Level 2 are the right sizes: enough words to write with, not so many that the child cannot find the one they need.
Teach the children to use the bank before they write. Point to the pictures, say the words, and ask the children which words they will need for their sentence. A child who has chosen their words before writing is a child who writes faster, and the choosing is the planning. The bank is not a crutch. It is a tool, and a tool the child uses on their own is a tool that works.
The I Can checklist is the self-checking. The child finishes the writing, looks at the checklist, and checks their own work: name, capitals, spaces, punctuation, sound out words, draw a picture, reread. Seven checks, and each one is a habit the child is building. A child who checks their own work is a child who is learning to edit, and the editing is the skill that will matter long after January is over.
Four Kinds of Writing
The prompts cover four kinds of writing — narrative, opinion, informative and how-to — and every page shows which type it is. A narrative prompt asks the child to tell a story: what happened on the snow day. An opinion prompt asks the child to say what they think: the best hot cocoa. An informative prompt asks the child to explain: how a penguin stays warm. A how-to prompt asks the child to give steps: how to build a snowman. Four types, and the child learns them by doing them.
The type printed on the page is the teaching, and it is worth naming out loud. "This one is an opinion," the teacher says, "so your sentence starts with I think." The child hears the type, writes the sentence, and the type becomes a shape the child knows. By the end of the month, the children will know the four types by name, and they will know which one they are writing before they start. The how-to prompts are the ones that surprise teachers, because a how-to prompt looks simple and teaches a lot: steps in order, one step at a time, and the steps have to work. A child who writes how to build a snowman has to think about the order — first the big ball, then the middle ball, then the small ball — and the order is the thinking. The informative prompts are the ones that teach the children to explain what they know: how a penguin stays warm, what a polar bear eats, and the explaining is the learning.
The I Have a Dream prompt for Martin Luther King Jr. Day is the one to handle with care. It is an opinion prompt, and the opinion is the child's own dream, and the dream is the child's own words. Read about Martin Luther King Jr. before the prompt, talk about what a dream is, and then let the children write. The prompt is the one that will go home on the fridge, and the fridge is the right place for it.
The I Can Posters and the Rubric
The seven I Can writing posters put the expectations on the wall: name, capitals, spaces, punctuation, sound out words, draw a picture, reread. A poster on the wall is a reminder the teacher does not have to give, and a child who looks at the wall instead of asking the teacher is a child who is working independently. The posters are the same as the checklist on the page, and the sameness is the point: the wall and the page say the same thing, and the child hears it twice.
The writing rubric is the teacher's part, and it is the part that makes the grading quick. A rubric that names the things the posters name — name, capitals, spaces, punctuation — is a rubric the children already know, and a rubric the children already know is a rubric that is fair. Use the rubric at the end of the week, on one journal entry, and the grading takes five minutes. The Writing Star certificate closes the set, and it is worth giving out for the writing, not for the spelling. A child who has written 24 prompts has done 24 pieces of writing, and the certificate says so.
The journal cover and blank journal pages for both levels mean the prompts can live in a journal all month. A journal is a book the child has made, and a book the child has made is a book the child cares about. Put the cover on the journal, and the journal is a real thing, and the writing inside it is real writing. The blank journal pages are the ones for the children who want to write more than one page, or who want to write about a prompt that is not in the set: a snow day of their own, a story about their own winter, a letter to someone they miss. A blank page is an invitation, and a child who takes it is a child who is writing for themselves.
Running It as a Daily Journal
The set is built to run as a daily journal, and a daily journal has three rules: same time, same routine, same expectation. The same time is the morning, when the children are fresh. The same routine is the prompt, the word bank, the drawing box, the checklist. The same expectation is one page a day, every day, and the expectation is the thing that makes the writing happen.
Start the routine on the first day of January, and teach it slowly. Day one is a lesson: read the prompt together, look at the word bank together, draw the picture together, write the sentence together. Day two is practice: the children do it with a reminder. Day three is the routine: the children do it alone, and the teacher's time is the time to sit with one child at a time and listen to them read their sentence out loud. The listening is the teaching.
The weekly plan is the shape of the month, and it is worth following. A week of prompts, and then the next week, and the month has a rhythm the children can feel. If a prompt needs two days, take two days. The plan is a guide, not a deadline, and a prompt written well is worth more than a prompt rushed through to stay on schedule. The first week is the one to teach carefully, because the first week is where the routine is learned: the New Year goal on the first day, the snowman on the second, and by Friday the children know the routine and the routine is running. The Martin Luther King Jr. Day week is the one to slow down for, because the prompt deserves the reading and the talking that come before the writing.
What to Watch For
Three things go wrong with January journals, and all three are easy to prevent. The first is the child who cannot start. A child who sits with a blank page is a child who does not know what to write, and the fix is the drawing box: draw first, then write about the drawing. A child who has drawn the snowman can write about the snowman, because the picture is the plan. The drawing is not a reward for finishing the writing. It is the start of it.
The second is the child who writes one sentence and stops. A child who writes "I like snow" and puts the pencil down has done the minimum, and the minimum is not enough. The fix is the word bank: "What else is in the picture? What color is the hat? What does the snow feel like?" The questions are the prompts, and the prompts are the sentences. A child who answers three questions has written three sentences.
The third is the January slump. The month is long, the days are dark, and the children get tired of writing. The fix is the routine: the same time, the same page, the same expectation, and the children will keep going because the routine carries them. The routine is the thing that outlasts the enthusiasm, and the routine is the thing that makes the writing happen in January.
Frequently Asked Questions
What grades are the January writing prompts for?
They are written for kindergarten through 2nd grade. Level 1 is for kindergarten and Level 2 is for 1st and 2nd grade. The listing's Highlights field says PreK–1st.
How many prompts are there?
24 prompts in total, each in both levels. They cover a New Year goal, an I Have a Dream prompt for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, snowmen, hot cocoa, penguins, polar bears, snow days and more.
How are the two levels different?
Level 1, for kindergarten, has traced sentence starters on primary lines and a 5-picture word bank. Level 2, for 1st and 2nd grade, has printed sentence starters, more lines and a 6-picture word bank. Both levels have a drawing box and an I Can checklist.
Is there an answer key?
No. No answer key row appears in the listing's Highlights section, and none is mentioned in the description.
What kinds of writing do the prompts cover?
Narrative, opinion, informative and how-to writing, and every page shows which type it is. The description says the prompts support the K–2 writing standards, and no codes are named.
How do I run the prompts as a daily journal?
One prompt a day, at the same time, with the same routine: read the prompt, look at the word bank, draw the picture, write the sentence, check the I Can list. Teach the routine on day one, and the children will run it alone by day three.
