What's In A Name? - Name Game Rounds 1 & 2

     In my room, our year is split up into four marking periods.  During each marking period we are given a topic of study, and we spend the entire marking period on that topic.  Our first marking period is called 'Great Beginnings' and we spend time learning about the rules and routines of the classroom and the school.  We also spend a lot of time learning about each other.  One of my favorite things to talk about is our name.  We do so many fun activities learning about our name, as well as the name's of our classmates and our teachers.  During the first few weeks of school last year I chose a name of a student and that student came up to the front of the room, we chanted their name, looked at it, an counted the letters.  My littles seemed to enjoy working with their names, but I felt like I wasn't doing enough to help them learn the spelling of their names.  Since I knew I wanted to change up how I completed those beginning of the year name activities, I decided to do some research to see what ideas my fellow educators had to say about this.  I found some wonderful ideas, so bear with me!! 
      While flying along through the amazing world of blogs out there, I stumbled across a link to an amazing little gem, the Meacham Name Game.  I am sure there are quite a few people out there who already know (and use!) Mrs. Meacham's awesome name activities, and I would love to hear how you use name games/student of the day/etc. activities!!  I'd like to share with you my thoughts for using this awesome activity!  I'm definitely starting with Rounds 1 and 2, and will be making sure to post about how this works in my classroom!  Here's my plan:
  Round 1: I will start with having a small bucket with each student's name on a stick.  The fist stick I pull (on the day before, I will secretly choose who I want to be the Dragon of the Day so that I can get their portrait papers ready) will be the first person to participate in the Name Game, also known as Dragon of the Day.  This student will be asked to come to the front of the room while I write his or her name on a sentence strip, then cut the name apart by letter, placing each letter in the correct order into a pocket chart.  We will chant each letter of the name as if we were at a Raven's game: (for 'Gary') "Give me a G" and they would chant back 'G!' When we chanted the last letter, I would ask them, 'What's that spell?' and they would shout back 'Gary!'  I don't know about y'all, but my littles LOVE to be allowed to shout in the classroom.  I would then introduce the best part, that they are going to get to draw a portrait of their Dragon of the Day.  First, I will model for them how to draw the portrait using shapes and the colors to match what the Dragon of the Day is wearing.  This helps me to show them how they should use shapes to draw a person.  For the first round the name of the Dragon of the Day will be printed on the bottom of the paper (which is why I need to secretly choose the Dragon of the Day before the grand ceremony of the stick-pulling) with lines so the students can attempt to copy the Dragon of the Day's name.  Even if they can only trace over the letters of their friend's name, that's fine.  I would model this during Whole Group Time so that they could complete their portrait's during the beginning of their Independent Group Time. 
   Round 2:  This round will require some prep-work.  Each student will need a small pocket envelope with their picture on each and their cut-apart name inside.  We will also need to create a large class graph with a photo of each student and the numbers 1-10 across the top (though probably less since I don't think I'll have anyone in my room with 10 or more letters in their name, but ya never know!!)  This round starts the same as the first round, choosing a stick, then putting the letters of that student's name in a pocket chart and chanting.  We will add introducing the name puzzles and then place those at one of the ELA (English Language Arts) Centers.  Next, we'll count the letters of the Dragon of the Day's name and then place a dragon picture under the correct number for the amount of letters in that student's name.  As we complete this round, we'll compare the letters in our names to see who has more/less/same.  Please stay with me through the first few weeks of school so you can see how this looks in my classroom!!


  Outside my classroom, I spent Friday at the County Fair with my nephew.  He is old enough, and tall enough, to get on all of the rides by himself now.  He was determined to ride every ride there, and he did a pretty good job of conquering each ride!  I think the only one he didn't do was the Loop-the-Loop roller coaster, but everything else he ROCKED!!  His mom and I weren't thrilled with how HIGH up he went on some of the rides, but he did AWESOME!!  Hope you're enjoying your summer with the ones you love!!

Dragon of the Day

   Hope you're all having an amazing week!!  I got to do something totally awesome with my nephew yesterday, and I talk about that at the end of this post!! 
   How many of you have a Student of the Day/Star of the Day in your classroom?  In the past, I have had a Star of the Week.  This would be a student who had a really good week following our PBIS goals of Be Responsible, Be Respectful, and Be Safe.  I would choose them on a Friday and tell them that they would be able to make a poster over the weekend that shows all of their favorite things, and the things that make them special.  This past year I had them take home a pre-made poster that I purchased from Really Good Stuff, but this year I think I'm going to let them come up with their own creations.  I'll give them some guidelines and then the rest is up to them!!  I'll talk more about my ideas for Star of the Week tomorrow.  This year, in addition to the Star of the Week, I'd like to have a Dragon of the Day.  This would involve a few different things.  I would choose the Dragon of the Day by pulling a name from a bucket.  That student would be the one whose name we would focus on for the day, in order to complete the Name Game.  That student would also get to be my 'helper' for the day.  He or she would help pass things out, gather materials, or run things to another classroom if needed.  They would have their own special spot in line when walking to and from specials and the cafeteria.  I found a cute song posted by Laurie Patsalides, nice and easy to learn and set to the tune of 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star'.  Don't your littles just LOVE singing songs??  Just click on the star and it will take you over there! Since I have yet to try having a Student of the Day, I would love to hear from you all on how you use this in your classroom, including on how you keep your littles enthusiastic!! <star graphic from Ashley Hughes at The School Supply Addict>

   On a non-school-related note, today I had an amazing time with my nephew Mason.  We took kayaking lessons!!  I cannot tell you how SUPER FUN it was!!  Mason did such an amazing job, and the instructors told us we were naturals!! I'm slightly more pink than I was when we started out this morning, but it was so totally worth it! We learned the correct technique for paddling forwards and backwards, as well as how to stop, turn, and rotate.  After practicing in a small lagoon, we then headed out onto the lake.  We glided past several egrets and blue herons, close enough that we could see its eyes.  Our paddles sent fish jumping and turtles sliding into the water.  We even watched a water snake cruising along.  That last part made me glad that I wasn't swimming in the water!!  While we floated peacefully near the reeds, my nephew spotted an egret stalking a fish.  As we watched, the sunlight sparkled across the water like diamonds.  After the egret speared his catch (which my nephew thought was AWESOME) he flew off right in front of us, carrying his catch away.  I was thinking how incredibly peaceful it was at that moment, and was looking for a way to express how I was feeling about being so completely surrounded by nature.  My nephew nailed it when he turned to me and said, 'Ennie, have you ever felt more alive?'  I smiled and said, 'No, I sure haven't.'  These are the moments that make life special, sometimes small but always treasured.  I am so incredibly glad that I was able to have this experience with my nephew.  We spent an hour kayaking and then an hour paddle boating.  Needless to say, I skipped the gym today!! We are both looking forward to the next time we can get out there on the water, and I look forward to the next adventure with my nephew!  What fun things have you done so far this summer?  Anything you would recommend??