An assistant principal for elementary instruction implemented a 10-week practicum intervention designed to use teacher in-service sessions to encourage the provision of daily opportunities for journal writing to kindergartners and first graders. In-service sessions offered: (1) an overview of highlights of related research; (2) approaches to the evaluation of student writing samples; (3) discussion of writing sample collection and evaluation; and (4) discussion of student progress in writing. Parents of participating students were invited to attend an evening orientation session in the week of the second in-service session. Included in the orientation were suggestions about activities parents could use at home to reinforce and support whole language instruction. Practicum effectiveness was assessed through classroom observations, reviews of student journals, comparison of students' pre- and post-samples, and a parent survey. Data indicated that students were provided with daily journal writing oportunities and that teachers wrote responses twice weekly. Students showed significant gains in developmental writing levels. Parental reactions to students' journal writing and invented spellings were positive. Related materials, such as surveys used and graphic analyses of pre- and post-intervention writing samples, are appended. (RH)