Submitted by Caryn Mears, Kennewick, WA
Idea posted May 17, 2013
- At the beginning of the year, you could seat all of your students alphabetically to learn their names.
- Use a seating chart and OVERUSE their names in your lesson by looking at your seating chart and saying their names as much as possible.
- Play name games at the beginning of the year. There are many in the Idea Bank.
My favorite activity is to use a little song that goes like this:
Everybody has a name, sometimes two or three.
Guessing takes us too much time, so tell your name to me.
(You can make up your own melody. I don't remember where I learned it.)
Then, I have a student or two tell me their name. Once I get to the end of a row, I try to see if I can say all of their names. Then I will do the next row, using the song, two or three times. Eventually the students will be able to sing the song with me, which is a good opportunity for them to match my pitch. I see if I can do that row and the first row and so on until I have done the entire class. I may do this two or three class periods, and it is very effective.
The Kindergarten students come to me with name tags on. I make a huge point of learning their names with this song, and then they put their name tags onto their backs, and I try to see if I can guess all of their names. I spend several minutes each class period during September learning names, and we play several name games.
One name game that is highly effective is to have each child come up with a movement to go along with their name. Then, you can associate a movement with the child's name. (It hasn't worked for me, but others use it very well. It just depends on your learning style.)
I also like the song, "Hey Liddy Liddy."
I know a boy named Brenner, Hey Liddy Liddy Low.
He sure was a big grinner, Hey Liddy, Liddy Low.
If I can't come up with a rhyme, I ask the students to come up with their own rhyme.
It takes work and a very good memory to learn over 700 names, but the longer you've been there, the easier it gets!