Beginning on the third day of school the children are introduced to “name tickets.” A name ticket is a two by four-inch piece of paper that serves as a means to help young children learn to print their names in a meaningful and risk-free way. It also teaches each child to recognize the letters in their name. The procedure for this activity is simplistic yet meaningful to the children. It builds a sense of community within the classroom.

Each day the children enter the room, remove their name from the pocket chart, place it on their desk, and take a name ticket from the name ticket box. If they can already print their name they do so and bring it to me. If they have written their name correctly, they spell their name to me by pointing to each letter and saying the letter names. I keep the name ticket, and they are free to go to choice time. If they do not recognize the letters in their name, we spell it together two to three times. In addition, on the first day of school, I send home a laminated name card with instructions to the parents to help their children “spell” and print their names a minimum of three times daily. Within three to six weeks, most children are able to print their names as well as recognize the letters.

The children who cannot print their names, watch me as I say and print each letter using a yellow felt pen or highlighter pen. The children take their name tickets back to their desks and use a pencil to travel in the “felt pen” road. They return to me with the ticket and spell their names to me while looking at the letters. Each day the number of students who need this intensive individualize support diminishes. This gives me more time to work with those students who are still having a great deal of difficulty printing and spelling their names. It is imperative that teachers find time to work individually with children in need of assistance before they fall behind their peers. Name tickets serves this need.

As each day passes my expectations for each child’s printing increases. I expect their letter formation to improve daily. If they bring their name ticket to me and they have not correctly formed a letter, we tear that name ticket in half, throw it away and get a new ticket. I work individually as needed with each child on proper formation of letters or spacing. Everyone soon realizes that mistakes are part of learning! Everyone tears a name ticket in half throughout the school year! Sometimes a child will use 3 to 5 tickets in one morning.

The children write their names on name tickets for a variety of purposes: to sign-in for the day, to attach to work that will be displayed, to go to lunch, and to show ownership of a class-made book. The children love writing their names all day long because it becomes meaningful and effortless. This feeling of confidence and importance is illustrated in the following sample of student work by Steven.

One day, shortly after Open House, Steven decided he wanted everyone to sing-in on his handmade sheets in lieu of name tickets. He was trying to emulate the poster-size sign-in sheet that the class made for parents to sign during Open House night. He brought a large paper to me that was decorated with caterpillars around a large square. When the children arrived he proudly stood by his sheet and instructed the children to sign-in using colored pencils. “Be sure to do your best writing,” he said.

Steven's sign-in sheet was so popular, he created two more!

Used with permission.
From Cornerstones of Kindergarten Literacy: A Balanced Literacy Foundation for Emergent Readers and Writers, by Susie Haas. Scribbles-n-Dots, 1996.