Family Message Journals, in which first-graders write to their families and receive a daily written reply, involve families in children's school literacy program. This paper focuses on the written replies of four representative case-study families to their children's messages. Analysis of the instructional functions realized through text structure…

Family Message journals, notebooks in which first-graders write a message to their families and receive a family reply each day, provide a fertile context for instruction and practice in writing for real-world functions and authentic audiences. Observation of classroom instruction, qualitative analysis of case-study children's and families'…

Examines first graders' demonstrations of audience awareness in the context of Family Message Journal writing (in which children write a message to their families and receive written replies). Finds that the first graders demonstrated a sense of audience when writing for family readers, to get something they want, when prompted by their teacher to…

Finds that with teacher scaffolding (modeling, explicit instruction, feedback, and the creation of contexts for sharing), first graders can write thoughtful, personal, and extended responses to books in their literature-response journals. Discusses teacher and peer scaffolding, and literacy development. Describes in detail the children's…

Explains how and why journals were chosen as a component of literature group reading. Shares excerpts from the journals of several children. Draws conclusions about the value of journals in contrast to more conventional written assignments. (MG)