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Using Visual Journals Figure 1 I wanted to include more visual thinking in my fourth grade class, particularly to meet the needs of my students who have spatial and kinesthetic intelligence. The art teacher suggested we revisit drawing. I introduced the idea of visual journals at the start of the school year. We intertwined geometry, a unit often left to the end of the school year, with observational drawing. This has formed the basis for observing, recording, drafting, recalling, and reflecting on so much this year. I cannot think of beginning the year any other way. -Bruce Fishman, fourth grade teacherHereford Elementary School Pennsylvania Visual Journal Visual journals, which are similar to verbal journals, aid development of visual literacy. In a sketch journal, children record their perceptions and draft a visual representation of their ideas, feelings, and movements. The sketch journal is the jumping-off point for interactive dialogue among adults and children. Frequency in using these journals is the key to visual thinking and documentation of creative thoughts. Picasso has 175 sketchbooks! Figure 2 Artists use a sketch journal to remember the composition of shapes, details in texture or line, representation of light or colors, essence of movement or value, and to represent ideas visually. Children's journals will help develop their perceptual awareness and build connections between their ideas and images with artistic production1. Suggestions for Visual Journals: Date every sketch entry. Encourage children not to erase any ideas, just move to another page. Sketch at least three times a week. Encourage the use of symbols or words to describe feelings or ideas. Refer back to journals as a source of visual ideas. Include responses to works of art, displays, or finished products. Put completed sketch journals into the process section of each child's portfolio. Figure 1: Page of Sean McFarland's sketchbook for fourth grade math unit on geometry. Hereford Elementary School, Pennsylvania. Figure 2: Sample page of drawings from the visual journals of Edward Casagrande, sculptor, Earth Orchestra, Cincinnati, Ohio, who "draws every day, because I'm afraid I'll forget." These sketches inspired his "Manhattan Angels" series of ornate garden sculptures. 1[Robinson, G. (1996). Sketchbook: Explore and store. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann; and Thompson, C.M. (1995). Transforming curriculum in the visual arts. In S. Bredekamp & T. Rosegrant (Eds.), Reaching potentials: Transforming early childhood curriculum and assessment (Vol. 2) [pp. 81-98]. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.]