Your Name Is a Song is a book that will teach students the importance of learning someone’s name and pronouncing it correctly. This book is a great way to talk about and celebrate individuality. We love using this book to start conversations about the importance of showing respect to others. - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
SUMMARY
After the first day of school, the main character in this book was very upset. No one in her class could say her name, not even her teacher. The girl’s mother encourages her to sing her name for her classmates, and that is how they will learn to say her name. The girl also explains that people at school made fun of her name. Some girls in her class pretended to choke on it, a boy’s eyes got very wide, and someone said her name was made up.
While they walk home, the girl’s mother talks to her about the importance of names and where they come from. The girl learns that names come from dreamers, that names are strong and that it is important for everyone to learn new names.
The next day at school, the teacher calls out everyone’s name and gets stuck on the main characters. The girl decides to sing her name and the teacher is surprised. The girl then explains that names are songs, and sings her teacher and classmates names. Soon, everyone wants to hear the girl sing their name. The girl’s teacher asks her to sing her name again and her classmates sing it back.
Students will enjoy this story about the importance of a name.
USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
While we love that this book is a great read aloud to teach social emotional learning, it can also be used to teach a variety of literacy concepts. Reads alouds are a great way to practice reading comprehension strategies, writing, and grammar skills. Take a look at some ideas for using this book in your classroom.
- Use the author’s note to discuss the author’s purpose for writing the book.
- Practice summarizing and retelling the story after you read as a class.
- Ask students to write poems about their owns names.
- Integrate opinion writing by asking students to form opinions about their names.
- Teach a lesson on plural and possessive nouns.
- Introduce students to the different types of sentences.
- Discuss the importance of showing respect to others.
NO-PREP PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES:
If you are looking for “ready to go” activities for the first day of school, be sure to check out the book companion. With it you’ll receive all of the following resources to align with this specific book:
- comprehension questions
- 30 writing prompts with themed paper
- vocabulary activities
- word study print & go activities
- ideas for grammar lessons with focus sentence printables
- social emotional learning discussion topics
- graphic organizers to target specific comprehension skills and strategies
This book is a must have for your school or classroom library. Your students are going to love completing these activities for the book and you will be impressed with how much they learn. You will want to read this book to your class every year.
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will also love these similar books:
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Just Ask by Sonia Sotomayor
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Under My Hijab by Hena Khan
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My Name is Yoon by Helen Recorvits
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The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi
TRY OUT A SAMPLE COMPANION
It's hard to explain how amazing the Starts with a Story book companions are because there is just so much goodness included in each one. It's best if you experience using one for yourself. Sign up below & we'll send you an entire book companion to try out for FREE!
