My+Name+is+Special

= My Name is Special = = =

image from [|www.clipart.com] Grades 2-5 Created by Kim Dinsmore Boise State University EdTech 523 Spring Semester, 2011

Traditional face-to-face activity
One icebreaker that I do with my face to face class is names bingo. I first read them the story Chrysanthemum, and then we talk about the importance of names and how special each of their names are in the class. Then we play a bingo game with all the students names on the sheet along with myself, our specialists and our principal.

Modified online version
For an online version, one could assign the reading then post a prompt on a discussion board asking students how they feel about their own name and if they have any stories on why they were named that particular name.

Asynchronous/synchronous
The online version of Bingo would be a challenge and could most easily be played synchronously with a virtual bingo sheet (could have students' photos by their names) for each student sent out ahead by email with the chrysanthemum markers (looks like the flower) added as movable pictures on the page to be used as markers. If a synchronous meeting could not take place then instead of a bingo game, one could create a matching game with pictures and first names. Quia has an easy template to import pictures and text into a "concentration" style game. My students love to play it with our vocabulary words. You can have your games on Quia be private, so only your class will have access.