The Story of My Name Writing and Craftivity Update

Hey friends! I just gave one of my favorite files, a little update! The content stayed the same, I just freshened up the fonts a bit to make it more visually appealing. :)

This activity is one of my favorite writing assignments to do all year! My students always love interviewing their families about their names and learning the special story their name has.  They always get a kick out of learning how/why they were given their name.  In fact, I get a kick out of it too! I've had students named after actresses, after athletes,  after a family member, and after places.  In fact, I learned that one of my sweeties last year was named after Logan from the Babysitters Club! :) 

While the book Chrysanthemum is great to introduce this project, my favorite book to read is actually When Jo Lewis Won the Title. It's a book that is less popular and therefore my kiddos pay a lot more attention while I read it, plus I use Chrysanthemum in another back to school activity, Cooking Up a Great Year Together. :)

Amazon

This is one of my all time favorite books.  It's a touching story of how a grandfather tells his granddaughter all about the story of her name.  It's not only a great story of self acceptance, but a beautiful piece of multicultural literature as well.  After reading the book, I have my students complete a homework assignment where they ask their parents some questions about their name.  Then we review the structure of an informational paragraph, and my kiddos write an informational paragraph all about their name.  Once finished, we make mini versions of ourselves and hang our completed writings up outside. It makes an adorable back to school bulletin board! :)  We also share them as a class, and it's a fun community building activity and a great way to teach and model author's chair/writing sharing procedures. 

Here's a little sample picture.  :)  The one on the left is the actual true story of my name. :) The little guy on the right is the story of my dad's name.  My hubs was sleeping at the time that I made my sample. ;)

If you'd like to check out my Story of My Name Writing and Craftivity pack, click on the images above or here to check it out on TpT! :) If you already download this file, you can redownload the new and improved version for free!

What about you, does your name have a special story?