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Name Bar Graph
This activity helps students to feel proud of their names…and familiarizes them with the names of their classmates. It even provides an opportunity to practice essential math skills with a colorful bar graph!
Begin by asking students to think about their names. What’s special about their name? Were they named after a family member or a close family friend? Ask them how they would feel if someone called them by the wrong name.
After you’ve discussed a little bit about why everybody’s name is special to them, read the story Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. Ask students to describe how Chrysanthemum’s feelings changed throughout the story. How does she feel about her name at the beginning of the story? What about the middle? How does she feel at the end? Why did her feelings change? Then ask students to count the number of letters in Chrysanthemum’s name. On a piece of posterboard, make a classroom bar graph of the number of letters in each student’s name. Who has the most letters in her name? Who has the least?