Write

Every
Day!
Journal
Scoring Rubric
Name: #

Date: Fluency: Communication: Legibility:

*Draw a Word choice and Mechanics and
star by the
date of this
One-half page or more sentence structure work handwriting allow the
week’s best
entry. Why Write Every Day?
to show the reader what
the author is thinking.
reader to understand
your ideas.
2 4 6 8 10 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
 2Fast and Easy to1score
4 6 8 10
on three criteria:
2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
o Fluency
2 4 6 8 10 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
(How much did you write?)
2 4o 6Communication
8 10 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
2 4 6(Did8 10 1 2 3your
you express 4 5 ideas 1 2 3 4 5
clearly?)
o Mechanics
(Is it written so others can read it
easily?)

 Students self-evaluate by scoring

themselves on the same rubric you will
use to grade.

 Two rubrics on one sheet of paper,

saves paper, ink, and your copy count!

 Kids who write freely every day have

more opportunity to play with words,
phrasing, sentence structure, and ideas.

 You will get to know your students even

better as writers and as people.
 Total Points: ___________________ = Grade ____________________
“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.”
- ― Louis L'Amour

Name: #

Date: Fluency: Communication: Legibility:

*Draw a Word choice and Mechanics and
star by the
date of this
One-half page or more sentence structure work handwriting allow the
week’s best to show the reader what reader to understand
entry. the author is thinking. your ideas.
2 4 6 8 10 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
2 4 6 8 10 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
2 4 6 8 10 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
2 4 6 8 10 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
2 4 6 8 10 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

Total Points: ___________________ = Grade ____________________

“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.”
― Louis L'Amour

Change the writing quote regularly. Some of my favorites are:

“Writers fish for the right words like fishermen fish for, um, whatever those
aquatic creatures with fins and gills are called. ”
― Jarod Kintz

“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the
difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”
― Mark Twain, The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain

“The scariest moment is always just before you start.”

― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

“You can make anything by writing.”

― C.S. Lewis
 Write Every Day Writer’s Block Busters:
What if, just for today, you could only answer questions with “Yes”?

What if, just for today, you could only answer questions with “No”?

What is your earliest memory?

What’s the silliest / scariest / bravest thing you have ever done?

When you wake up one morning, you are in someone else’s body.
Who is it? Describe your day as someone else.

Science: Write about a physical change that went horribly wrong.

Write about a book in the library that desperately wants to be read OR

left alone.

Write about the most delicious lunch / the grossest lunch.

What book are you reading now? Tell me about it.

What would it be like to jump from cloud to cloud?

Which book / TV show / movie would you like to be in, as yourself?

Which book / TV show / movie character would you like to trade

places with for a day / week/ month? Why? What would it be like?

*Suggest prompts that spring from your current studies or novels.

*Suggest prompts that spring from writing themes you see recurring.
For example, MInecraft was the big draw with my class last year,
while this year’s class has several students whose writing focuses on
siblings.
*Have a suggestion box for students to offer prompts.
Write every day . . .

For children to grow as writers, they need to

write. Keep your students accountable and
self-evaluating with the
Write Every Day
Writing fluency journal rubric
Each day, students write at least twelve lines (1/2 a page in a
composition notebook). Decide what works best with your schedule –
morning work, literacy block station, Daily Five “Work on Writing”, etc.

Suggest a topic a day for students with “writer’s block” instead of

requiring all students to write about the same prompt. Allow them the
freedom of choice to write about last night’s baseball game or continue
a story over multiple days. The goal is to keep them writing about what
is important to them. Save the required curriculum responses for
content classes.

Read their journals weekly and write quick responses on the pages.
Short phrases such as “Exciting weekend!”, “Sounds like fun!”, “Scary!”,
“Hopefully next time will be better”, “How did you do that?”, or even just
“Wow!” let them know their ideas have an audience.

Resist the temptation to correct errors – this is their safe place to write.

At the end of the week, students review their writing and score
themselves with pencil on the rubric. The teacher can use a pen to
score on the same sheet for the weekly writing grade. Notice that
fluency is more heavily weighted than conventions.

The goal is to keep the pencils moving across the paper. I have used
these for two years and the writing growth I have seen is amazing.

Borders by “The Science Demo Guy”