Conversation Diary Update

A few months ago I blogged about the "conversation diary" idea I learned about at the DownsEd Conference I went to in Atlanta.

A quick recap of the 'conversation diary' : The Conversation Diary is different from the Communication Folder sent from the teacher. The Conversation Diary is a personal book the child takes between school and home. All it takes is writing down one sentence about what the child did at school/home based on what the child wants to share...it is essential that the child is actively engaged in choosing what he/she wants to tell. This way the child can share with teachers and parents about their day. If the child can not yet write the teacher/parent asks the child what they want to say and writes it for them using the shortest correct sentence form from their keywords. Example: "Played drum." would become "I played the drum today." Go over the sentence with the child and have them repeat it back to you.

We started the 'conversation diary' with Kayla and her teachers. After I expressed interest in what Kayla was sharing during their "morning meeting" at circle time her teacher writes that down in the notebook as well.

I can't wait until Kayla is home from school; one of the first things I do is look for that notebook in her backpack and see what she shared that morning.

I get such a laugh out of what she decides to share. Some of it happened, but a lot of it I have no idea where she is coming up with this stuff!

Other times they mistake what she actually said for what they heard her say. Like the time after Halloween. Her notebook said "I went trick-or-treating with mom and dad. I was a princess. Lucas was a kitty. Mom was a princess. Dad was a kitty." Neither Joe nor I dressed up so I'm not sure why she said that about us. And Lucas was not a kitty. I asked Kayla to tell me what she and Lucas were for Halloween. At first it did sound to me like she said "kitty" so I asked her again and then realized she was saying "king." (He dressed up as a king when we went to Chick-Fil-A.)

Here are some of the true, and false, things she has said:

- My daddy went to Rolly Pollies with me. (true) Lucas and mom were sleeping at home (false).
- I played football at my house. (false)
- My daddy was sick and I took care of him. He feels better. (false; they didn't even do this as pretend play)
- I got cotton candy at Chick-Fil-A (false)
- My daddy and mommy and me went to Chuck E Cheese (false). We ate cupcakes (false)
- My mommy went to the nurse because her head hurt (false)
- My eye hurts. I saw a ghost and I hid under my bed (not to my knowledge!)
- My mommy is tired (I guess I was that morning); My daddy had to work.
- My mommy is a princess. She has a wand. It's pink. We had a tea party outside. (false)
- My daddy has to work (true). I ate a snowcone (false)

I'm going to be glad we have this notebook in the years to come!