Word Walls and The Name Game Each day we have one person who is our
helper and we focus onher name. When everyone has had a turn, we start
another round.I find it easiest to go in alphabetical order by first names.
I write the students names on sentence strips, using one colorfor boys,
and another for girls.First round: We reveal one name each day, beginning
with a cheer:?Gimme a B (B), Gimme an i (i), Gimme an l (l), Gimme another
l(l), Gimme a y (y). What?s that spell? (Billy). One more time!(Billy).
Then I ask if anyone ?notices? anything about Billy?s name andwe look
for letters in common with other names, or count lettersand look for other
names with the same number of letters. Thenwe take a good look at the
student, discussing colors ofclothing, so each child can draw a picture of
the helper. Iwrite the helper?s name on the board and encourage everyone
totry to write that person?s name and then draw a picture of thehelper.
The helper gets to take home the pictures drawn byothers, his is put up on
the bulletin board with the name cardI?ve made.
2nd Round: The self-portraits are put into a class book and thename cards
are transferred to an alphabet word wall. Each day weread the alphabet and
names, then take the helper?s name off tocheer and ?notice? letters about
this name and others. We formthe helper?s name in magnetic letters, scramble
them up and taketurns putting them in the right order.
3rd Round: When we read the alphabet, we say the sounds inaddition to the
letters and names. This time we cheer, writethe letters in the helper?s name
on the board and then count howmany of those letters are in the names on the
word wall. Thenwe talk about which letter has the most, least, etc. We
havealso added another name cheer: ?Bryan, Bryan, that?s his name.It
starts with B, it ends with n, hooray, Bryan! We stillscramble the name with
magnetic letters.
At some point we begin to add sight words to the names on thewall,
usually starting with go and we. In December, or after wecome back from
Christmas, we take the names off the word walland put them in a pocket chart
for the kids to use duringcenters. We continue to add sight words the rest
of the year,reading the alphabet, and saying the sounds and words each day.
Here are additional name ideas; some I?ve tried, some I haven?t.*Count
the syllables.*Write the names like a rainbow.*Name poems from the
website Korky?s Kool rhyme machine
(http://www.literacyhour.co.uk/learning_activities/rhyme/rhyme.html)*Think
of words that begin the same as the name.*Make up tongue twisters.*Fill
out an interview sheet.*Mystery person (hangman type game where you draw
blanks for theletters and the kids guess letters until they know the
name.* Use the letters in the name and look for smaller words. *Cut up
name puzzles to keep in a literacy center.*Change the initial consonant and
play with the word (Sue, Bue,Lue, etc.).*Another name cheer: No
matter what I do or say,My name will always be the same,It starts
with_____It ends with ____Now count to 3 and say my
name,1,2,3,_______.
Lisa C. Hurst on 05 May 15"AUTHOR: ISSIE LAPOWSKY. ISSIE LAPOWSKY DATE OF PUBLICATION: 05.04.15. 05.04.15 TIME OF PUBLICATION: 7:00 AM. 7:00 AM INSIDE THE SCHOOL SILICON VALLEY THINKS WILL SAVE EDUCATION Click to Open Overlay Gallery Students in the youngest class at the Fort Mason AltSchool help their teacher, Jennifer Aguilar, compile a list of what they know and what they want to know about butterflies. CHRISTIE HEMM KLOK/WIRED SO YOU'RE A parent, thinking about sending your 7-year-old to this rogue startup of a school you heard about from your friend's neighbor's sister. It's prospective parent information day, and you make the trek to San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood. You walk up to the second floor of the school, file into a glass-walled conference room overlooking a classroom, and take a seat alongside dozens of other parents who, like you, feel that public schools-with their endless bubble-filled tests, 38-kid classrooms, and antiquated approach to learning-just aren't cutting it. At the same time, you're thinking: this school is kind of weird. On one side of the glass is a cheery little scene, with two teachers leading two different middle school lessons on opposite ends of the room. But on the other side is something altogether unusual: an airy and open office with vaulted ceilings, sunlight streaming onto low-slung couches, and rows of hoodie-wearing employees typing away on their computers while munching on free snacks from the kitchen. And while you can't quite be sure, you think that might be a robot on wheels roaming about. Then there's the guy who's standing at the front of the conference room, the school's founder. Dressed in the San Francisco standard issue t-shirt and jeans, he's unlike any school administrator you've ever met. But the more he talks about how this school uses technology to enhance and individualize education, the more you start to like what he has to say. And so, if you are truly fed up with the school stat
