HELP! My Kids Can't Write Their Name! (HOW TO AVOID NO-NAME PAPERS!)
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This post contains affiliate links which will reward me monetarily when you use them but it comes from Amazon’s pocket - not yours! For more info, read my full disclaimer. Every Year I Had The Same Problem UNTIL I STARTED USING THIS SOLUTION…
I spent 7 years teaching Preschool.
My adorable little munchkins would show up every year and, every year, I would ask myself “Were they this little last year?” (It always felt like they were babies, compared to my “almost Kindergarten” students I had ended the year with.)
And every year I faced the same problem:
Almost every child in my class couldn’t write their name.
(Totally normal developmentally.)
But it was a problem when they were painting masterpieces at the easel and creating artwork left and right, I could never get around the room to write every child’s name on every paper as they worked…
I attempted a few solutions before I found the KEY to this LOCK BOX.
I tried to teach them to write just the first letter of their names, like in one day, and have them somehow manage to find a place on their paper to write it. (Nope, not the solution.)
The magical solution I found was …
NAME STICKERS.
Let me explain…
I just used Avery Labels:
And created a template with my student’s names and pictures. (Because most of them can not recognize their name this early in the year either.)
You can create a template through Microsoft Word.
You just select > LABELS.
Then click on the >>> Label Wizard. (shown above on the right.)
Select the labels that you are using.
Mine are 8163:
Then, I can simply type in the student’s names and add their photos.
You can use Tracer fonts, like the one shown above…
(I like this because you can have the kids trace their NAME STICKER with a highlighter or crayon every time they put it on a paper!)
Here’s a close up of that font:
Get the FREE TRACER FONT DOWNLOAD HERE:
^^^FREE TRACING FONT DOWNLOAD.
Or you can use a solid font:
Then, once you’ve decided on the template you like, just fill in your student’s names.
***(Add photos if you want, I always find it helpful for the kids who can’t recognize their name yet.)
Then, you print it and take it to the copier with you. Put the labels in the printer paper area. (May take a few attempts to get the labels in correctly and facing the right direction.)
And finally, VOILA! You will have pages and pages of NAME STICKERS. I make a bunch of copies to start out and refill students as I see them getting low.
Here’s how I display name stickers in my classroom.
It was a lot of work to hide the kids faces, so I didn’t take a photo of the whole tray, but it’s one of those clear containers… like the ones pony beads come in:
BONUS: We have a fun way for the kids to retrieve the NAME STICKERS…
because, can you image if they just tried to get their little finger in there and lift up just one sticker?
It only took two entire tray flips before we came up with a new method.
Now we retrieve our name stickers like this:
*****(Curious about the Popsicle stick? We use those to scaffold kids who are starting to be able to write their name. A lot of the time they forget or skip some letters as they are learning, so if they are able to write some of the letters, I will tell them, “Go get your name STICK” so you can write your name on your paper!”)
It might seem like a lot, but it’s a simple and fun routine that kids ENJOY practicing!
I model it dramatically and make it like it’s magic how I pick up just the one name sticker… then when kids want to paint, all I have to do is say, “Go get your name sticker!”
You’d be amazed at how many times I say that in just one day.
They use their name stickers to put their names on every paper, WITHOUT MY HELP!
Check it out:
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This post contains affiliate links which will reward me monetarily when you use them but it comes from Amazon’s pocket - not yours! For more info, read my full disclaimer. Baby June and I thank you for supporting our small business!
