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,_______.
Misha Miller on 20 May 13"Conversation is key . Sawyer succinctly explains this principle: "Conversation leads to flow, and flow leads to creativity." When having students work in groups, consider what will spark rich conversation. The original researcher on flow, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, found that rich conversation precedes and ignites flow more than any other activity.1 Tasks that require (or force) interaction lead to richer collaborative conceptualization. Set a clear but open-ended goal . Groups produce the richest ideas when they have a goal that will focus their interaction but also has fluid enough boundaries to allow for creativity. This is a challenge we often overlook. As teachers, we often have an idea of what a group's final product should look like (or sound like, or…). If we put students into groups to produce a predetermined outcome, we prevent creative thinking from finding an entry point. Try not announcing time limits. As teachers we often use a time limit as a "motivator" that we hope will keep group work focused. In reality, this may be a major detractor from quality group work. Deadlines, according to Sawyer, tend to impede flow and produce lower quality results. Groups produce their best work in low-pressure situations. Without a need to "keep one eye on the clock," the group's focus can be fully given to the task. Do not appoint a group "leader." In research studies, supervisors, or group leaders, tend to subvert flow unless they participate as an equal, listening and allowing the group's thoughts and decisions to guide the interaction. Keep it small. Groups with the minimum number of members that are needed to accomplish a task are more efficient and effective. Consider weaving together individual and group work. For additive tasks-tasks in whicha group is expectedtoproduce a list, adding one idea to another-research suggests that better results develop
