First, make a letter necklace for each child. Cut out 3” circles from poster board, write the first letter of each child’s name on one circle, punch a hole in it, and thread it on a piece of 24” string to make a necklace for each child. Choose one child each day for the routine below:
1. Place the necklace in your lap and do a little “drum roll” by tapping your hands on your knees.
2. Give clues about the child’s name as you write the letters on the board. For example, “The mystery name today has four letters. This friend loves horses and is a good artist. This friend has brown hair and brown eyes. Who can it be?”
3. Present the child with their letter necklace as you sing this song to the Cookie Monster song “C Is for Cookie.”
M is for Marcus,
That’s good enough for me.
M is for Marcus,
That’s good enough for me.
M is for Marcus,
That’s good enough for me.
Oh, Marcus, Marcus, Marcus starts with M.
4. Encourage children to name other words that start with /m/.
Hint! Let children decorate their own letter necklaces with stickers, fake jewels, and glitter pens.
Giant Letters
Write the first letter in the child’s name on a large piece of poster board and cut it out. Place it at the art center with collage materials. Invite the children to help decorate the letter during the day. Display these letters on a special wall in your classroom.
*You could also send the cutout letter home with the child with instructions for parents to help him make a collage on it with pictures, photos, environmental print, and so on.
Sign Language
Teach children the manual sign for the first letter in their name. Dismiss children to line up by making the sign for their name.
Batman
Alliterate the first sound in each child’s name as you say it in the Batman chant.
/m/ /m/ /m/ /m/ /m/ /m/ /m/ /m/ Max!
/h/ /h/ /h/ /h/ /h/ /h/ /h/ /h/ Heather!
*Cut a bat shape out of the front of a file folder. Insert paper and write each child’s name so it appears inside the bat. Hold up children’s names as you say the chant.
Syllables
Invite the children to clap, snap, wiggle their hips, or make other motions for the syllables in their names.
*Use the children’s first and last name to make this more challenging.
Clap a Name
Rhyme Game
Have the children think of words that rhyme with their classmates names. (They don’t have to be “real” words, as long as they rhyme.)
Example: Sophia, Bophia, Lophia
Sam, Bam, Ram, Lam
Name Puzzle
Write each child’s name on a 10” sentence strip. Cut between the letters in the name and put them in an envelope. Write the child’s name on the front of the envelope. The children empty the envelope and put the letters together like a puzzle to spell the name.
Giant Letters
Write the first letter in the child’s name on a large piece of poster board and cut it out. Place it at the art center with collage materials. Invite the children to help decorate the letter during the day. Display these letters on a special wall in your classroom.
*You could also send the cutout letter home with the child with instructions for parents to help him make a collage on it with pictures, photos, environmental print, and so on.
Sign Language
Teach children the manual sign for the first letter in their name. Dismiss children to line up by making the sign for their name.
Batman
Alliterate the first sound in each child’s name as you say it in the Batman chant.
/m/ /m/ /m/ /m/ /m/ /m/ /m/ /m/ Max!
/h/ /h/ /h/ /h/ /h/ /h/ /h/ /h/ Heather!
*Cut a bat shape out of the front of a file folder. Insert paper and write each child’s name so it appears inside the bat. Hold up children’s names as you say the chant.
Syllables
Invite the children to clap, snap, wiggle their hips, or make other motions for the syllables in their names.
*Use the children’s first and last name to make this more challenging.
Clap a Name
Cut out small hands from construction paper. Glue them under children's pictures to indicate how many syllables in their names. Make a book with their pictures and clap your hands!
Rhyme Game
Have the children think of words that rhyme with their classmates names. (They don’t have to be “real” words, as long as they rhyme.)
Example: Sophia, Bophia, Lophia
Sam, Bam, Ram, Lam
Name Puzzle
Write each child’s name on a 10” sentence strip. Cut between the letters in the name and put them in an envelope. Write the child’s name on the front of the envelope. The children empty the envelope and put the letters together like a puzzle to spell the name.
Unifix Cubes
Place dot stickers on Unifix cubes. Write the first letter in each child’s name on one color and the remaining letters on another color as shown. Store these in a pencil box. Children can take the letters apart and then put them back together to spell their friends’ names.
Place dot stickers on Unifix cubes. Write the first letter in each child’s name on one color and the remaining letters on another color as shown. Store these in a pencil box. Children can take the letters apart and then put them back together to spell their friends’ names.
