My kids write every day starting the first day of school.  The first thing they do when they come in in the morning is to sign in, and then get out their journals.  I model my journaling time after the book Kidwriting by Eileen Feldgus and Isabell Cardonick.  There is so much to explain about the whole process, I won't go into it here, but I will say that it is my top, number one, must have, go out and buy this, pick for EVERY kindergarten class.  I am AMAZED at what following their advice has done for my kids. 

Below is a picture of the journals I use for first quarter.  By the end of the year, I add "lines" to the page for them to write on, but at the beginning, it's just blank paper.  You will notice that this "journalist" wrote "RBO" for "Rainbow"....not bad for the 4th week of school!

I also have a Writing Center that is always open during center time in my classroom.  It's always a really popular center...but I "advertise" it pretty hard..."today in the writing center I've added some new gel pens/envelopes/alphabet stamps/metallic crayons" (you get the picture). :)