Learning Names in Kindergarten: An Introduction

Learning Names in Kindergarten:  An Introduction
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Introduction to Learning Names

Kindergarteners may or may not come to school prepared in knowing letters and letter sound relationships. They also may or may not come to Kindergarten knowing how to spell, write or read their name. Through this series, students will not only learn their own name, but their classmates names as well. This phonics lesson can vary depending on the degree of the entering Kindergarteners readiness. Below is a rationale to the whole series on teaching names to Kindergarten students.

Star of the Day (Learning Names), Rationale:

I use this reading activity to help students learn to read each others names. I call it, The Star of the Day lesson plan. Each child gets a chance to be the Star of the Day, but the lesson is really in learning names and learning phonics. This is very exciting for new students and is a great way to introduce students not only to each other, but to phonics, word work, sight words and concepts of print. I love to get students excited about themselves, classmates and the school year.

The Star of the Day promotes learning and social relationships. I begin the Star of the Day by choosing a child’s name that correlates with the phonics curriculum that I am using (usually it is a child who appears serious about his or her academic success. In the beginning of the school year this can make a great impression). I then proceed through the class according to the letter and beginning sound that I am introducing in the phonics work. Bearing in mind that all the letters of the alphabet will not be represented by my class, I use the first letter of their names to launch the phonics program and in direct correlation with the phonics curriculum that I am following. As we move along in our phonemic studies I will use the vowels in the students’ names, word chunks, digraphs (such as -th in Anthony and -sh in Shannon…) and ending sounds.

The Star of the Day lesson also introduces the students to the concepts of print that a word consists of a group of letters, we read and write a word from left to right and that some words (proper nouns) are capitalized. Read on in the series for the Star of the Day Lesson Plan on names.

This post is part of the series: Learning Names

In the following lessons, student will learn phonics, concepts of print, and words through their names. Students will also have fun at center time with name games.

  1. Learning to Read Names in Kindergarten: Introduction
  2. Teaching a Kindergartener to Read Names
  3. Fun Name Games for Kindergarten Classrooms