My grandson, Noah, is a rising 2nd grader who learned many new skills in 1st grade.  It is important for him to retain those skills so that 2nd grade will be fun and successful!   My daughter and I are big fans of journaling and Noah's school encourages journalling (especially as a summer activity - they will give an extra "100" grade for those who participate and complete the project).   I simply expanded journaling so that it would keep many of his skills fresh while he had fun doing so!

I created a word document with a header "Summer Journal 2008", his name and a blank space for the date he writes his journal entry.  Beneath the header is a "picture" box and below that are the writing lines.  I purchased an inexpensive binder, with a clear front cover, so that he could keep his weekly sheets in one place and in order.  I placed his binder into a portable art case complete with pencils, a pencil sharpener, an eraser, colored pencils and crayons.  When he's ready to journal, everything he needs is in one place!

Each Friday, we talk about all of his activities from the week before (Saturday through Thursday).  He selects one activity to write about and writes a story that includes what he did, who he did it with and what he did and did not enjoy about the activity.  He then draws a picture in the picture box to illustrate his story.  At the end of the summer, he plans to draw a cover picture that will show through the clear cover of the binder to identify it as uniquely Noah's!

This activity keeps his thought processes/mental organizational skills working as he creates his sentences and organizes his story.  It keeps his handwriting neat and his English (sentence structure, capitalization rules and punctuation) skills at their peak.  Journaling maintains his spelling and phonic skills.  The picture box allows him to show off and improve his art creativity.  Setting up the binder and art box as I did helps him to see that keeping his work neatly in one place is good organization and will help him develop that important habit.  It keeps Noah's expectations of a scheduled "homework" time as a part of his life so that restarting his homework routine will not to be as stressful.  Very importantly, journaling reminds Noah that learning is a life skill and not just for formal schooling!   I believe it also helps him to think back over the past week  (and, later, the entire summer) and realize that summer was not all lazy, TV watching and junk food (though we allow him a dose of that, too!)!  

After he shares his journal with his 2nd grade teacher, Noah's binder will go into his memory box where, in the future, it will serve as a wonderful reminder of a wonderful and fun Summer 2008!