The Name Jar activities and lesson plan ideas

Our The Name Jar Activities are now digital for distance learning with editable teaching slides and worksheets based on Yangsook Choi's book. Read aloud the diverse picture book then use the printables or go paperless with Google or Seesaw to practice standards-based skills.

THIS READING UNIT FOCUSES ON USING THE MENTOR TEXT TO TEACH:

◼️ READING STRATEGIES

☐ making predictions

☐ analyzing character

☐ summarize / retell

☐ plot | problem - solution

☐ author's purpose

☐ ask and answer questions

◼️ SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING TOPICS

☐ diversity

☐ transitions

☐ positive self-talk

◼️ GRAMMAR & LANGUAGE CONCEPTS

☐ proper nouns

☐ compound words

☐suffixes

SUMMARY OF THE MENTOR TEXT:

Unhei has just moved from Korea to America. On the bus ride to her first day of school, the students laugh at her name. When she gets to her new classroom and it is time for her to say her name, she claims that she doesn’t have one. She says she is still deciding on her name and will let the class know by the end of the week. 

Boys and girls in her class create a name jar and fill it with suggestions for Unhei’s new name. However, none of the names feel quite right for Unhei. 

At the end of the story, Unhei has to make the decision about whether or not to share her real name.

Students will learn about diversity and individuality throughout this great read.

THIS COLLECTION OF ACTIVITIES and LESSON IDEAS INCLUDES:

➜ Comprehension Questions categorized by reading strategy; text-dependent
➜ Social-Emotional Learning guidance lesson ideas & discussion topics based on the story
➜ Vocabulary Activities with kid-friendly definitions
➜ Grammar Topics selected to align with the text
➜ Focus Sentences use the book & author's craft as a mentor text to improve writing
➜ Lesson Planner summary, background info and planning space

➜ Story Mapping Printable identify character, setting, problem and solution

➜ Making Words Activity Page use any word from the book

➜ Focus Sentence copy work, identifying elements of the sentence, rewriting)

➜ Design a New Book Cover demonstrate understanding of the text by creating an illustration

➜ Predicting Activity primary-ruled and wider-ruled versions
➜ Summarizing Somebody → Wanted → But → Then → Finally

➜ Comparing and Contrasting using a Venn Diagram

➜ Cause and Effect analyze how events affect one another

➜ Visualization illustrate visualizations from the story and support thinking with text-based evidence

➜ Making Connections identify text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections

➜ Thematic Writing Paper Use with the Writing Prompts... Makes a Great Bulletin Board

➜ 2 Sequencing Activities First → Next → Then → Last and Beginning → Middle → End

➜ 2 Vocabulary Activities Vocabulary Booklet and Word Mapping

➜ 2 Character Trait Activities listing traits and supporting traits with text-based evidence
➜ 30 Text-Based Writing Prompts 3 prompts for each of the following types of writing:

• narrative
• persuasive / opinion
• descriptive
• expository / informative
• creative / story writing
• procedure / how-to
• list-making
• letter / postcard writing
• poem
• book reviews

INCLUDED DIGITAL ACTIVITIES:

➜ 5 Teaching Slides to use for instruction (add questions, vocabulary, instructions, etc)

➜ 15 Student Pages for use in Google™️ Classroom or as editable files to create customized printables