My Name: Write, Count and Compare

This kindergarten page is built in two matching halves. The top half reads My name over a handwriting line, then a strip of ten dashed letter boxes with the note Write one letter in each box, then two small cards: Letters in my name, with a square for the count, and The first letter of my name, with a square for the letter. The bottom half repeats the line and the ten boxes for My friend's name. At the foot a band asks Who has more letters? with two ovals to circle, me and my friend. The child writes, counts, and compares.

A child's own name is the first word most children can write, and putting it one letter per box turns it into something that can be counted, which is the first time many children see that a word is made of a fixed number of pieces. Writing the first letter on its own draws attention to the capital. The comparison with a friend's name is the mathematics: two counts, and a decision about which is larger, made on numbers the child produced. The teacher watches whether the count matches the boxes filled and whether the child compares by counting or by looking at the row lengths.

It prints on one portrait sheet in black and white. Pair children up so the friend's name is copied from a name card, not spelled from memory. If both names are the same length there is no oval for a tie, so tell the child to circle both. The all about me page has the name line alone, and all about my family is the sibling counting page with ten-frames instead of letter boxes.