Learning Our Names

Purpose:  Aside from the obvious utility of learning to write one's own name, a child's name offers a helpful way for them to enter the world of reading and writing. Once a child recognizes the letters of his or her own name, she or he can then use this skill to find these letters in other words. This activity will give the children lots of practice at learning the letters of their names.

 

Materials/Advance Preparation:

• paper
• markers
• clear contact paper (optional)
• Write each child's name on a piece of paper (you can also use shapes - each child gets his/her own shape of paper) and put clear contact paper over it .

 

 

Directions:

1. Ask the children to sit to form a circle.

2. Put all of the names in the middle of the circle.

3. Each child gets a turn to find his or her own name (early in the year they tend to find their shape).  As each child finds her or his name, the group spells the name out loud as you point to each letter.  As the year goes on, they recognize their own name and other children's names as well. They begin to want to point to the letters themselves, then they learn the letters themselves.

 

Notes:

1. Using clear contact paper on the paper with their names allows the children to use washable markers to practice writing their name over and over; they can just wash off the marker with a damp rag or old sock.
2. For some children, it is a yearlong process, but others begin to help the ones that take a bit longer to learn. It's wonderful to see the children go from stage to stage throughout the year.

    

Eric Gidseg

 

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