When I was a teacher, I would spend a good deal of time in September on getting to know each other and building community. This investment would lend to a cohesive and caring class group throughout the school year. Working in Toronto, we would talk about our country of origin, what made us who we are, who are families were etc. Literature was always my introduction to any topic and celebrating our unique selves is a theme in many beautiful books. Your Name is a Song is about a girl’s experience with teaching her class and her teacher her name, but the message is so much more. We made some free printable alphabet cards so that your child or students can work on creating their own names, those of their friends and words! Materials Printable Letter Cards & Prompts Letters Printable Sign Stand paper stand 2 Cardstock Scissors or paper cutter (to be used by an adult) Tray Containers Directions Read the book Your Name is a Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow (https://jamilahthewriter.com/), illustrated by Luisa Uribe (https://luisauribe.com/). Here’s the video that goes along with the book https://www.theinnovationpress.com/yournameisasongvideo Canadians can find it here: Indigo: https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/your-name-is-a-song/9781943147724-item.html Amazon: https://www.amazon.ca/Your-Name-Song-Jamilah-Thompkins-Bigelow/dp/B07W4XJ184/ Americans can find it here: Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Your-Name-Song-Jamilah-Thompkins-Bigelow/dp/B07W4XJ184/ *Disclaimer: We received a copy of the book for review as I love so many books from: http://www.theinnovationpress.com/. This is not a sponsored post and nor do we use affiliate links.* Print your cards on sturdy paper and cut out the letters. You may want to print several copies, particularly if the names you are working with have more than one of each letter. Put the letters in a container or shallow tray. We used two trays, sorting the letters into upper and lower case. Place out a big tray to arrange the letters of your name. Print out the handy stand on sturdy paper, cut it out and fold along the dotted line. Isn’t this so creative?! My host teacher when I was in University taught me that simple paper trick- great for labels of displays of the children’s work, prompts etc. and so inexpensive! Print out the name prompt on sturdy paper and then add it to your activity! This activity would be great for back to school in September for children in Pre-K/ Preschool/ Playschool, Kindergarten and Grade 1! We added a poster variation for children to make their friends’ names (you could print an additional stand and add photos to this). We also added a poster for making words with the letters- this would be a great way for children to work on common words, words that they working on or words that are interest to them. You could put out certain letters or use the whole alphabet bank. Another Alphabet Idea: Find the printable here: http://make-it-your-own.com/alphabet-booklet/ Other printable projects (fairy garden, paper farm, puppet theatre, writing activities etc.) http://make-it-your-own.com/?s=printable+ Pin this idea Purpose Learning about our names, recognizing the letters that comprise them. Creating familiar words that are meaningful to the child. Safety Notes Use scissors or a paper cutter with care and direct, adult supervision. Please like & share: Leave a Reply Cancel Reply Your email address will not be published. Name* Email* Website Comment Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email.
