United StatesName Game
Grade Levels: Pre-K - 2
Objectives
- Students will learn classmates' names.
- Students will learn to make letter–sound associations.
- Students will improve alphabet recognition.
Materials
- Poster board strips with students’ names clearly printed
- Photographs of individual students (Polaroid, etc.) mounted on the poster board name tags
Procedures
- Model for students how to match student names and photos, saying the name and emphasizing first letter sound (e.g. John, J, J).
- Taking two or three name tags, attempt a match thinking aloud your process (e.g. J,J, that’s J. Does this name begin with J?).
- Choose easily distinguished letter sounds to begin and limit number to three or four matches.
- After a few days, increase the number of matches and model two names beginning with the same letter and sound – e.g. J, J, Joe – could it be this one? Jess or this one Joe?
- Talk about medial and final sounds. Make this self-checking by printing the name on the back of the picture.
- Model how to check, comparing every letter in left to right sequence.
