One of my favorite things about teaching five year olds is watching them write in their journals. Several months ago some of these students only knew a few letters and sounds. Now they’re actually composing sentences! It’s amazing! We work in our journals once a week during small groups.  I call three or four students at a time to my teacher table where they spend 15 to 20 minutes writing and illustrating. The kids can see the word wall and I’m there to help with sounding out words as needed.  I’m happy if they hear the beginning sound. It’s a success if they write down the ending sound. And I’m over the moon, teacher crazy if they hear any…