Name Day' Activities for Back-to-School

Back-to-School My Special Name Worksheet — Photo Source: Crazy for First Grade

Break the ice with your new students and get to know everyone's names in the first few days of school with these fun 'Name Day' activities provided by Anna of Crazy for First Grade. Anna starts the activities by reading Chrysanthemum with her kiddos.

Cover of Chrysanthemum — Photo Source: Crazy for First Grade

Anna sends home a letter with her kiddos explaining to parents that they're reading Chrysanthemum and asks for their help completing the "My Special Name" worksheet shown above (she provides the letter and worksheet as FREEbies on her blog!). As a class they then talk about everyone's special name - this book provides a great opportunity for dicussing as a class how we're all unique and it's okay. Chrysanthemum sure has a unique name! It's also great for the beginning of the school year because it addresses how hurtful it can be to tease each other.

A few more activity ideas for 'Name Day':

Create acrostic poems with first and/or last names.
Have the kiddos decorate their names with craft supplies like glitter, pom poms, markers, etc.
Play a name scramble game. Work in pairs and take turns unscrambling the letters in each other's names.
Graph the length of each student's name to determine who has the shortest name, who has the longest name, what's the most popular number of letters, etc.

For additional ideas for your first few days of school, be sure to check out Crazy for First Grade! Anna has a great assortment of ideas to get you through the first week.