What does your name mean?

This lesson will enable the students to investigate the meaning of their names and discuss with their parents how they decided on their name.

A lesson plan for grade 2 Information Skills

By Pam Purifoy

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Related topics

• Learn more about information literacy, language arts, and read-alouds.

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• discover the origin of their name.
• discover the meaning of their first, middle, and possibly their last name.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

5 days

Materials/resources

• A copy (or a class set) of Virtual Cody by Betsy Duffey
• Name Meanings worksheet
• Origin of Your Name sheet
• Checklist (You can modify this to meet your needs)
• Rubric (You can modify this to meet your needs)
• Pencil

Technology resources

• Data Projector, Averkeys, or SmartTV
• Computer or laptop with Internet connection

Pre-activities

• Before beginning to read the novel, Virtual Cody by Betsy Duffey, the teacher will need to have a complete list of each student’s first, middle, and last name in case the student does not know their middle name.
• Discuss with the students that you are getting ready to begin a novel about a young boy who must learn how his parent’s named him as part of a class assignment. He thinks that he is named after a famous person, but he finds out he is mistaken. This novel discussed how he and his classmates discover who they are named after or how their parents named them.
• Using Attachment #1: Name Meanings, have each student write their first, middle, and last name. Collect when finished.

Activities

1. Read the novel, Virtual Cody by Betsy Duffey. (It may take a few days to complete the whole novel, depending on time spent each day reading. You may read it as a class with each student having a copy or the teacher read it allowed.)
2. Discuss the novel and how the characters felt at different points during the story.
3. When the novel is complete, have the students ask their parents about the origin of their name. (Were they named for someone?) Have each student write their origin down on the Origin of Your Name sheet you hand out. They are to bring it to the next class and will share their discoveries about their names.
4. Pass out the Name Meanings worksheet. The teacher will use the internet, computer, and the Smart TV (or similar display device) to look up each student’s first name.
5. Using a baby name website, have students come up to the computer or laptop (or if in a lab situation, have them log onto one site that you have chosen) and type in their first name, trying to use the correct fingering for the home row keys.
6. As each student’s name comes up, read it out loud to the rest of the class and have the student whose name it is, to write their findings on the paper.
7. After completing each student’s first name, take up worksheets.
8. If you are in a computer lab situation, have students move on and find the meanings of their middle and last names. Remind the students that sometimes not all names are listed. They should not be discouraged if their name does not show up in the database.
9. Display completed work in an area for all students to see, whether it is a bulletin board or just a simple wall display.

Assessment

Assessment will be teacher observations as well as the completed displayed projects. Make sure that all students have found the meanings of at least their first name. Use the checklist or rubric to make sure that all assignments were completed by the student.

Supplemental information

Comments

I have read this novel several times to second graders. I incorporated the technology of finding the meaning of their names into this lesson. This was great.