Never knew what it was called but, yes. Our school has done this since DS (12) was in Kinder. It's a completely developmentally appropriate way of teaching writing and it helps them become confident enough to do it on their own without worrying it is "wrong" or asking for help on every single word. I'm home preschooling my 4 yr old and am doing his journal this way. Sometimes he asks me to spell a word and I'll say is phonetically but I don't correct if he puts a wrong letter. I just write what he is trying to say. As someone said before, if a kid is ready to write more than one sound they will. You'll see a hige improvement over the year and in a few years you will look back at the papers they wrote this way with the teacher translation underneath and treasure them because it shows how far your child has come and how much she has learned.