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    • sight words
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    • comprehension
      • activating schema
      • connecting
      • inferring
      • predicting
      • questioning
      • retelling / summarizing
      • visualizing
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    • environmental print
    • fluency
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    • spelling
    • word building
    • word consciousness
    • vocabulary
  • writing
    • creative writing
    • grammar
    • informative writing
    • tripod grip
  • math
    • computation
    • counting
    • numbers
  • science
    • animals
    • plants
    • science experiments for kids
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    • cooking
      • new for us foods
    • crafts
    • foundations
      • colors
      • critical thinking
      • fine arts
      • listening
      • pretend play
      • sorting
      • speaking
    • holidays
      • new year’s
      • valentine’s day
      • president’s day
      • st. patrick’s day
      • april fool’s day
      • easter
      • mother’s day
      • teacher appreciation
      • father’s day
      • july 4th
      • halloween
      • thanksgiving
      • christmas
    • family life
      • family fun
      • giving back
      • lunchbox love notes
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quick trick: names, names, everywhere, names!

home / early literacy / phonological awareness / quick trick: names, names, everywhere, names!
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This Quick Trick is super easy but has big pay-offs.simple ways to help kids learn their names | teachmama.com

As one of the most important gifts we give to our children, names carry serious weight. Little ones should be proud of their names, they should know their names. And they should be able to recognize their names very early in the game.

I’m not just talking first names; especially before they reach kindergarten, children should be quite familiar with their first, middle, and last names.

So this Quick Trick? Names everywhere.

  • Names, Names, Everywhere Names: I write my kids’ names everywhere. On their cheap-o Ikea plastic cups so they see them at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. On their papers, on their art trays, on their walls in their rooms.

I put their names on their tablets, their backbacks, their tiny Magna-Doodles, their table trays, their vitamin holders, their anything and everything. I buy stickers with their names on them (whenever I find them). If I could, I’d buy a name label for each Maddy, Owen, and Cora from one of my favorite label-makers ever, and then we’d really be name-nutty, and I’d really be a labeling queen.

simple ways to help kids learn their names | teachmama.com

Little Cora’s tomato soup lunch,
complete with her name on her cup.

I try to keep Cora’s name in uppercase letters, and I write Owen and Maddy’s in lowercase letters, but it doesn’t really matter. For really little guys who are just learning their letters, sure–it’s easier for them to learn their names with uppercase at first. But Cora’s now 3, so I’ll probably start writing her name with lowercase by the end of the summer or early fall.

simple ways to help kids learn their names | teachmama.com

Hard to look at a tater tot name?
Maybe. But for little guys, it’s crazy fun.
simple ways to help kids learn their names | teachmama.com

I’m not saying all we need to do is have our kids stare at their names, and it’s a sealed deal. Talking about names, playing with names, eating their names (when the letters come in food form) make the whole process that much more fun.

simple ways to help kids learn their names | teachmama.com

Want a few more name-playing ideas?
Check out two of my recent posts at 5 Minutes for Mom:

  • Make Learning a Party: Celebrate Names!
  • Celebrating Names: Play With Letters!
  • Celebrating Names in Written Language

There’s really no reason to wait on teaching children even the spelling of their names because oftentimes, names are the first words emerging readers recognize, read, and eventually spell. In fact, children’s ability to write the letters of her name “in isolation on request or to write one’s name” was identified as one of the precursors to success in literacy development (from the National Institute for Literacy‘s Developing Early Literacy: Report of the National Early Literacy Panel, 2008). Names are that important!

So that’s this Quick Trick–just a little, teeny something to consider trying so that all our little ones are name-savvy and name-happy by the time they make it to school.

Thanks for subscribing to teachmama! Have a good one!

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About amy mascott

teacher, mother, dreamer. lover of literacy, fun learning, good food, and three crazy-cool kids. finder of four-leaf clovers | dc metro ยท http://about.me/amymascott
tweet with me: @teachmama

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What better way to get students to engage in civics and contribute to their communities? 

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The National Civics Bee is an initiative aimed at encouraging more young Americans to engage in civics and contribute to their communities. 

Organized in partnership with The Civic Trust of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, the competition in your community will inspire middle schoolers to become better informed about American democracy, to engage respectfully and constructively in the community, and to build greater trust in others and institutions. 

Learn how to bring The National Civics Bee to YOUR community now: https://teachmama.com/bring-the-national-civics-bee-to-your-community/

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Quick! Thereโ€™s still time to see if your area is registered to participate in this yearโ€™s National Civics Bee! #ad

Click the link in my bio to learn more and to grab a TON of free resources for families and educators. 

This yearโ€™s registration deadline is approaching, but you still have time! 

What better way to get students to engage in civics and contribute to their communities? 

https://teachmama.com/bring-the-national-civics-bee-to-your-community/

#CivicsBuzz #strongcommunities #middleschool #civicsbee #teachersofIG
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Have you heard of The National Civics Bee? #ad 

The National Civics Bee is an initiative aimed at encouraging more young Americans to engage in civics and contribute to their communities. 

Organized in partnership with The Civic Trust of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, the competition in your community will inspire middle schoolers to become better informed about American democracy, to engage respectfully and constructively in the community, and to build greater trust in others and institutions. 

Learn how to bring The National Civics Bee to YOUR community now: https://teachmama.com/bring-the-national-civics-bee-to-your-community/

Iโ€™m thrilled to have partnered with @mom_select and @civicsbuzz for this exciting campaign! โ™ฅ๏ธ๐Ÿค๐Ÿ’™

#CivicsBuzz #middleschoolers #teachersofIG #communitypartners
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Oh HEEEEEYYY, @luvvie โ€” did you see that @littletroublemaker made our hallway bulletin board? ๐Ÿ˜‰โ™ฅ๏ธ

(Itโ€™s what Rusty the ๐ŸฆŠ is currently reading.) 

Find it at your favorite bookstore or order here: https://amzn.to/3Pu3tWs

(This is my affiliate link, so when you use it, I will earn a small percentage of the sale, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for using my link and supporting my small business!)

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How can people with dyslexia learn to read? ๐Ÿค”

Here are the 3๏ธโƒฃ elements that reading instruction should contain in order to be most effective for students with dyslexiaโ€”

#demystifyingdyslexia #raiseareader #readingteacher #teachreading #dyslexiaawareness
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Lately when I find four leaf clovers, Iโ€™ve been leaving them. ๐Ÿ€๐Ÿคท๐Ÿผโ€โ™€๏ธ

So if youโ€™re in Maryland, and you happen upon a lonely, little 4-leafer with very little grass, weeds, or leaves around it, I donโ€™t know WHO tried to set you up for success.

#yougotthis #keepyoureyesopen #itsthelittlethings #kilpattyluck
View
Open
Okayโ€”how do we know if someone has dyslexia? 

Which professionas are able to make that important determination? 

โ–ถ๏ธ Watch to find out. 

Hit me with the questions you still have about dyslexiaโ€”and know we have a few more posts to go!

#demystifyingdyslexia #raiseareader #teachreading #readingteachersofig
View
Open
What are some of the common signs of dyslexia?

Watch to learn and find out!

#demystifyingdyslexia #readingteacher #raiseareader #teachreading #dyslexia
View
Open
True โœ… or false โŒ?

#demystifyingdyslexia #dyslexiaeducation #readingteacher #raiseareader #teachreading
View
Open
What do you know about dyslexia? 

What questions do you have about dyslexia? 

For the next few weeks leading up to my own start to the school year I am sharing a new series called โ€œDe-Mystifying Dyslexiaโ€ and I would love for you to join me! 

Follow in my stories or on the highlight above!

#dyslexia #teading  #readingteacher #raiseareader #demystifyingdyslexia

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