Names

Give Me a N-A-M-E

I have had the most success teaching the alphabet and the sounds of the letters by using the students' names as much as possible during the year. Children are highly interested in their own name and also love to read and write the names of their friends.

The Helper Name Game

Every day we choose a helper for the day by playing the name game. I give clues about the helper such as, " Today's helper has a T in his/her name." When we figure out who the helper is we spell the name and the children get to tell things they notice about the name.

Parent Ideas - Show your children the names of your family members. Put the names in your home where your child can see them. When I teach letters children often make connections such as, " My sister has an M in her name." Try playing your own family name game at the dinner table. Hang your child's name on the wall in the bedroom and make spelling it part of the bedtime story routine.

Name Cheers

I have pom-poms that the children can use to do cheers with their names.

" Give me a B." and we all respond. This is always very popular.

Little Readers With Names

Many of the little books we use to learn to read have the students' names in them.

- I like my friend ______.
- I love to see ________.
- I can see the M in ________.

Parents can make little books with the names of family members for your child to read. Use photographs or drawings and simple sight words from our list of spelling words.

Letter Formation in Names

Parents, be sure your child only uses a capital letter for the first letter of the name.
Also, watch the letter formation closely when your child first learns to write. It is hard to break bad habits once they are learned and practiced.
Most letters go from top-to-bottom and left-to-right.
Many curved letters start like the letter C ( a, c, d, g, q).

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