Use a School Readiness Activity to provide early mathematics thinking experiences for preschool children that will prepare them to do well in the early grades.
Grades:
Subjects:
How Many Letters in Your Name
Purpose/Skills
- To count letters in names
- To experience numbers to 9 or 10
Materials
Name cards for each child, with the number that represents the number of letters under the name
Prepare name cards ahead of time.
Read The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter. Have children look at the cover and help them say the letters in Peter's name.
Vocabulary
letters
how many?
count
Warm-Up
Show children Peter's name on a board or chart. Model "a see, touch, and say" approach: touch each letter of Peter's name as you count the letters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Invite children to take turns touching and counting the letters. Then write 5 under the name.
Procedure
- Help children understand that their names are made up of letters. Ask children to look at their name cards and touch the letters in their names. Help children count the letters in their names aloud and say the numbers that are written on the name cards. Invite volunteers to touch and count the letters in their names aloud.
- Have children use a finger to trace around the letters of their names and to trace around the numbers on their name cards. Encourage children's curiosity about the number of letters in the names of their friends.
To help children remember the number of letters in their names, play a game called "How Many Letters in Your Name?" Give 1-step and 2-step directions to do actions similar to the following:
- If you have 5 letters in your name, hop on one foot.
- If you have 9 letters in your name, stand up and snort like a pig.
- If you have 7 letters in your name, fly like a bird and go "tweet-tweet."
Observation Assessment
- Proficient - Child can easily count the letters and identify the numeral representing the number of letters in Peter's name and his or her name.
- In Process - Child touches the letters and counts some of the letters, but occasionally gets confused.
- Not Yet Ready - Child touches letters, but gets confused when counting and does not associate numeral names with the letters.
