Daubed Names

Found this fun idea at Welcome to Room 36: 


 

Placemats

From: The Mailbox

Here's a simple way to reinforce skills during snacktime and lunch. Every month have each student make a placemat. Laminate the placemats and then use a permanent marker to program each placemat with letters, numbers, or personal information such as the child's address and phone number. Throughout mealtime, ask youngsters questions about the information on their placemats.

Make several placemats.  On each one, include a different skill: letter, numeral, color, or shape naming, patterning, student's name, sight words, objects of different sizes or lengths etc.  Before giving a student a placemat, instruct him/her to name the letter/numeral/color/shape, what comes next in the pattern, read the sight word, name the biggest/smallest or shortest/longest object etc.

Letter in Name Check-In

From: Kids Count

Letters in Name Check-in - During the first month of school, every child has to put his/her name in the pocket chart under yes or no. The question is - Does your name have a(n) LETTER in it? We go through the alphabet and change the letter each day.

Finding Letters in My/Your Name

Materials:

• Rice
• Small Tub
• Magnetic letters
• Name cards
• Sentence strip, if desired

Activity:

1. Before activity begins, hide letters from all participating students' names in a small tub filled with rice.
2. Ask students to find their name cards before beginning.
3. In turn, allow students to sift through and find a letter.  Instruct child to first name the letter and then decide if it is in his/her name.  
4. If desired, student can repeat "The letter ___ is/is not in my name."
5. If the letter is in his/her name, allow child to keep letter.  If not ask child to give it to someone who does have that letter in his/her name.  Instruct receiving child to say sentence, if desired.
6. Continue until all letters have been retrieved.
7. Instruct students to now put all the letters in order to spell his/her name.

Variation: Include all letters to give students more practice naming letters or when working alone.

From: Chalk Talk: A Kindergarten Blog

Guess Who?

Each day, put one student's name (mixed-up) on a magnetic surface using magnetic letters. Have the students see if they can figure out who's name it is before Morning Meeting/Circle Time. Once someone guesses the correct answer, have that student come up and put the letters in the correct order. Then use their name to reinforce letter identification.

Question of the Day

Every Friday, at attendance time, put up question: "Does your name have a(n) (letter) in it?" with "yes" and "no" as the responses using the letter of the week.

Beginning of Year Bulletin Board

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom theme:

Make a coconut tree and use an Ellison machine to put the first letter of each child's name around the tree. On each letter, write the child's name. The bulletin board reads: "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Look Who's in Our Room." Take a picture of each child on the first day of school. When developed, have the child find his/her name by the tree. Tape the photo next to the letter and save it for their portfolios when the board is changed.