This is my "exquisite" little learner, Adarius.   Love him!!! And all of the vibrant vocabulary he brought to our learning in kindergarten!

What's in a Name?

Years ago, my son's PHENOMENAL kindergarten teacher exposed me to so many brilliant kindergarten learning opportunities.   Each year, on the first day and every day there after, the students signed their name on a whiteboard.  The teacher took a picture on the first day, and the last day to exhibit the growth and change throughout the year.  
Early childhood learning has to take in account the EGO-centrism of these little learners.  Tap into it!!!  Make it about them and help them learn through it!

Move that STAR!

This was my first round of the name game, I would put the child's photo behind a star and place his/her name jumbled on the Smartboard.   The students would look at the letters and try to discover if it was his/her name.  Once the students discovered the "Star of the Day", they would chant: 
"Move that Star.....Move that Star...."   and the child would come to the board and move the star to reveal his/her picture. 
If I had had EBLI knowledge back then, I may have: 
  • Started with phoneme manipulation and had the students discover the word.
  • Had the students tell me the sounds in the name as I wrote the sound lines.
  • Had the student come up and write the spelling for the sounds in his/her name on the sound lines.  

To the left, you can see that we started rearranging the letters in the student's name to create words.  They loved this!   

Elkonin Boxes with a Hint of Gender...

The next round had the children look at the title given to the fellow student:  Miss or Mr. 
From there, the students tried to determine the star of the day by looking at the number of letter boxes and the shapes.  
Once the student's name was determined, the student came to the Smartboard to discover the face behind the object.  If everyone had guessed correctly, the student wrote his/her name in the Elkonin boxes.  Then he/she called on students that were able to discover words that could be make from his/her name and write them on the Smartboard.  

Smartboard or Whiteboard...they're both magic as long as the student is the STAR!

This name game is the same as that described on the left, however it shows that a whiteboard is just as magical to entice learning as a Smarboard!

Looking at Clues.  

Here, the students had to read the clues, make observations, and determine who the name game person was.  Wonderful discussions occurred!!!  The students would ultimately support one another to determine/reason why one student fit all the clues over another. 
After the student was discovered, we again played with the letters in the student's name to create as many words as possible.  By this time, all students had enough skills to build words.  

Compare & Contrast

Name Poems
We started building reading strategies utilizing student uniqueness!  
This was a FUN way to honor each student in the class!  The student of the day got to take his/her poem poster home.  What fun!   
This activity was an adaptation from a Jessica Meacham activity.

First Grade ~ Upgrade to Gaming...

In first grade we a few of the activities above, but our favorite was Hangman.  Immediately the students learned to eliminate each other according to the number of lines for letters in the name, so I through them off by using last names (once we knew each other).
Look at the difference in words made from the student's name!  The students were permitted to add more words throughout the day.  The student of the day took his/her poster home at the end of the day.  

Independent Work

These activities became part of word work in centers.  I just wished I had known about EBLI when I was teaching all of this!  My students would have been brilliant (even more brilliant).  :) 
Mixed up letters in a library pouch with the student's name inside.  
Pick a name, collect magnetic letters (in tool drawers), make the name, identify consonants, and vowels, rearrange the letters to make new words.  
Good for the beginning of the year.  Inside each bottle is water, glitter, and letter beads that spell a student's name.  They LOVE swirling them around to discover who's inside!  They can keep their bottle at the end of the year!