Word Work with Names

I know Daily 5 is a big thing in classrooms grades 1 and up at the moment, but we even in pre-k we do some Daily 5 like things.  Recently I was at a PD lead by Linda Scott on literacy that left me inspired.  I hope to share several things I was inspired by over the next few weeks.  One of the things that was so quick and easy to incorporate was some word work you could do with names.  I immediately made a chart like the one we saw being used and then started using it in my classroom.  We are on our second day of using it and the kids LOVE it.  Below is the name chart...

As you can see the names are grouped by the first letter of the name.  This will be important.  I introduced the chart by pointing to each name and asking whose name it was and that child instantly lit up and said something like 'Me, that is my name it says ______".  Once we had done that we talked about the boxes and why were some boxes bigger than others and how did I decide where the box should be.  They quickly saw that all the names in the box began with the same letter.  Then I picked 1 student to come up and find their name.  I asked them what the word said (it is important that they realize their name is a word).  Then I asked them how many letters were in their name and they counted them.  Next I asked them what the first letter was, followed by what the last letter was.  Then they sat down and we all clapped how many parts (ie syllables)  there were to their name.  The kids love it, they are so excited to see who I will pick each day.  My goal is to do this with two students a day.  Today I added the question for Addyson, who has a name that begins with the same letter as your name.  She pointed to Allah but she wasn't sure what it said.  I said is there anyone who can read that word.  Allah's hand went up instantly and he proudly let everyone know it said Allah.  We listened closely to Addyson and Allah and noticed that we heard the same sound.  It is something so simple but it is making all the difference in my classroom and it only takes me about 5 minutes.  I hope this will help you as well.