Math journals provide students with opportunities to articulate their understanding of math concepts and/or their frustrations with the gaps in those understandings. The use of these journals supports metacognitive thinking to enhance understanding and application. This study examined the use of math journals by fourth grade students as a conduit for critical thinking, reflection, and real-world math application. For this study, student journal entries consisted of identification of a real-life event, narrative of both the problem's description as well as the rationale for choosing the problem, the use of a problem-solving strategy learned during class instruction, and the use of a numeric or pictorial model to arrive at the solution. Upon completion, students shared his/her journal entry with the entire class. Through this research, I witnessed evidence of growth in mathematical understanding and computation, and I saw students make a deeper connection to math's many real-life applications in their own lives.