Why name booklets work
A child’s own name is the word they care about most. Each page in the booklet practices it a different way: tracing builds letter formation, colouring big bubble letters builds the shape of the whole name, the maze makes them read their letters in order, and cutting and gluing makes them build it themselves.
How to use the class pack
- Paste your class list, one name per line.
- Choose the pages you want in each booklet.
- Check a booklet with the arrows, then download one PDF for the whole class.
- Print and staple each child’s pages together. They come out in order, child by child.
CAPS links
- Grade RRecognises their own name and the names of some classmates, and traces the letters of their name with start points and arrows.
- Fine motorIn Grade R, builds fine motor control by cutting out bold outlines with scissors, which the cut-and-glue page practises.
- Grade 1Copies and writes their own name, then short words and sentences.
The CAPS Grade R day starts with arrival and a morning ring, when children are greeted and the register is taken. That is when children hear and see their names most often, so a booklet with their own name on every page builds on something they meet daily.
In the first weeks of Grade R or Grade 1, give one page a day during independent activities while you work with a small group. The tracing, colouring and cutting pages cover the fine motor work CAPS expects before formal handwriting begins.
Summarised in our own words from the DBE’s CAPS for English Home Language and for Mathematics, Foundation Phase (2011).
