Identify the capital letter in their name

Distinguish between upper and lowercase letters

Sequence the letters in their name in the correct order from left to right

a name puzzle for each child (See example below)

name puzzle picture example.docx

An envelope to store the name puzzle

A My Name is Alice, by Jane Bayer

Teacher:  How could we sort these into 2 groups?

Wait for student response.  Direct conversation to the differences between upper and lowercase alphabet letters.

Have the students sort the magnets into 2 categories with teacher guidance.  (Upper and Lower Case)

Introduce the story:

Teacher:  Today we are going to look back at the story we read yesterday A My Name is Alice by Jane Bayer.  You are going to notice on each page there is a letter of the alphabet.  What do you notice about this letter? Invlove the students in a conversation on how capital letters begin a name and are at the beginning of a sentence.  Let’s 
take a look at our name chart.  Do you see how your name begins with a capital letter like the characters in the story?  You are special, so you get a capital letter atthe beginning of your name!   While I read this story be a capital letter detective.  See if you can find the capital letters on each page.  Read the story.

Teacher: Today we are going to create a name puzzle!  You get to make your own puzzle out of the letters of your name.   Watch me write my name on the puzzle sheet.  Can you find the capital letter in my name?  That’s right…it is in the beginning of my name.  The capital letter is the first letter of my name!  Now watch as I cut on the lines to make the pieces of my puzzle.  Display pieces in a pocket chart .  I am going to mix the pieces (letters).  To win, I have to put the letters in order to spell my name.  What letter would come first?  That’s right the capital letter.  Who can find the capital letter that my name begins with?  Continue modeling until you have correctly completed the name puzzle.  Model to students how they can use their name displayed in the room as a guide to help them put their puzzle pieces in the correct order.

Write student names on individual sentence strips so you have 2 copies.  Make one to cut, and one
to use as a model.  Keep the pieces in an envelope labeled with the student name.   See example under material resources.

Model taking out the pieces from the envelope and putting together the name puzzle.  Students who need help can use the second strip as a model.

Teacher:  Let’s look at your name puzzle.  Put your finger under the capital letter your name begins with.  Is it the first letter? It should be. Turn to your neighbor and tell them thecapital letter that your name begins with. 

Correctly assemble their name puzzle.