My Name

Materials: Chart paper, markers, optional name reflection sheet

Before reading, invite students to think about their own names. Ask students whether they know who chose their name, why it was selected or whether it has a special meaning in their family. Make it clear that students may share only what they are comfortable sharing, and that some people may not know the story of their name.

Create a class chart titled “Names Can Hold …” and record student ideas such as family, love, culture, memory, hope, tradition, sound, meaning and identity. Explain that the book they are about to read explores how one child learns that their name carries much more meaning than they first realized.

Discussion Questions:

• Why do people have names?
• Can a name tell a story?
• How can a name make someone feel connected?

Materials: Talking piece or small object for turn-taking, chart paper

Gather students in a circle and invite them to share a family tradition, memory, special food, place, song, celebration or activity that matters to them. The purpose is not to compare families, but to notice that every family has memories and practices that help tell who they are.

After students share, explain that the child in My Name learns about their identity through family stories and memories. Discuss how family members can help children understand where they come from and what values matter in their community.

Discussion Questions:

• Why do families tell stories?
• What kinds of memories are worth keeping?
• How can traditions help people feel proud of who they are?

Extension: Students draw one family memory or tradition they may want to write about later.

Student Product: Family Memory Sketch

Materials: Book pages or projected images; sticky notes

Conduct a careful picture walk without reading the full text. Ask students to notice setting, characters, colors, body language, plants, written names and repeated visual patterns. Encourage them to use the language of observation: “I notice …”, “I wonder …”, and “This makes me think … .”

Guide students to predict what the story may be about. Focus on how illustrations can reveal family, culture, place, emotion and theme even before the words are read.

Discussion Questions:

• What do you notice first?
• What images seem important?
• What do the illustrations make you wonder?

Extension: Students write or draw one prediction and one question before reading.

Student Product: Prediction and Wonder Notes

Materials: World map or globe, index cards, name examples chosen by teacher

Introduce the idea that naming traditions vary across families, languages and cultures. Discuss how some names are chosen for relatives, meanings, places, religious traditions, hopes, virtues, ancestors or sounds that families love.

Students examine a simple classroom map or globe and discuss how names can reflect language and place. Emphasize respect: all names deserve to be pronounced carefully and treated with dignity.

Discussion Questions:

• Why might families choose names in different ways?
• Why is it important to pronounce someone’s name respectfully?
• How can learning a name help us learn about a person?

Extension: Students practice introducing themselves with the sentence: My name is ___, and one thing I want people to know about me is ___.

Student Product: Respectful Name Introduction

Materials: Paper leaves, markers, bulletin board or chart paper tree

Create a large paper tree on a bulletin board or chart paper. Explain that the tree will represent the classroom community. Each student receives a paper leaf and writes their name; one word that describes them; and one person, place, memory or tradition that matters to them.

Students add their leaves to the tree. Discuss how individual names and stories become part of a larger community. Connect this to the book’s emphasis on names, land, family and memory.

Discussion Questions:

• How is our classroom connected like the leaves on a tree?
• Why does every leaf matter?
• How do individual stories strengthen a community?

Extension: Keep the Identity Tree displayed during the unit and add new words or symbols after reading.

Student Product: Classroom Identity Tree

Materials: Chart paper, markers

Create a T-chart on the chart paper with three headers: “Speaker,” “What They Say” and “What It Teaches.” Title the chart “What Does the Child Learn About Their Name?” As students read, stop when family members explain their name, and record what each person contributes. Students should notice that the mother connects their name to softness and care, the father connects it to courage and care for the land and the grandfather connects it to olives and family memory.

After each entry, ask students to explain how the child’s understanding grows. Help them see that the meaning of their name is built piece by piece through family, place, memory and love.

Discussion Questions:

• What new information does the child learn?
• How does each family member add a different meaning?
• Why does the child become proud of their name?

Extension: Students complete a smaller version of the chart in pairs.

Student Product: Name Meaning Chart

Materials: Symbol chart, sticky notes, pencils

Explain that symbols are objects, images or details that represent bigger ideas. As students read, ask them to watch for repeated or meaningful images, including olive trees, olives, family harvest, written names, hands, feet, stars and constellations.

Create a three-column chart with three headers: “Symbol,” “What We See” and “What It Might Mean.” Guide students to interpret olive trees as family, land, nourishment and cultural memory; written names as identity and visibility; and stars or constellations as permanence, dignity and remembrance.

Discussion Questions:

• Why might olive trees matter in this story?
• Why does the ending compare names to stars?
• How do illustrations help us understand ideas the text does not explain directly?

Extension: Students choose one symbol and draw it with a short explanation.

Student Product: Symbol Explanation Card

Materials: Feelings tracker timeline, emotions word list

Create a timeline to track how the child feels across the story. Begin with curiosity, then move through feelings such as comfort, pride, connection, seriousness, hope and remembrance. Encourage students to use both words and pictures as evidence.

This activity helps students see that learning about identity can change how a person feels about themselves. The child begins with a question and ends with a deeper sense of meaning and belonging.

Discussion Questions:

• How does the child feel at the beginning?
• What makes the child feel proud?
• What feelings do the final pages create?

Extension: Students add new emotion words to the class vocabulary wall.

Student Product: Feelings and Evidence Chart

Materials: Chart paper or student recording sheet

As the story mentions memories of olive blossoms, harvest, family work, home, school, play and grandfather’s humor, students identify how family stories help define the child’s name and identity.

Create a chart with three headings: “Family Memory,” “What Happens” and “What It Teaches About Identity.” Pause while reading to fill in the chart with examples from the story. Students learn that identity is connected not only to the individual but also to family, community, land and shared experiences.

Discussion Questions:

• What memories are connected to the child’s name?
• How do ordinary family moments become important?
• What family or community memories help people know who they are?

Extension: Students prepare one question they could ask a family or community member about a memory.

Student Product: Family Story Question

Materials: Think-aloud prompts, partner discussion cards

Pause at key moments in the story and model thinking aloud about the importance of names. For example, when the child asks why they have their name, say aloud: “I think the child wants to know more than a definition. They want to know how their name connects to who they are.”

Invite students to turn and talk using prompts such as: “A name can … ,” “The child is learning … ,” and “I think names matter because … .” Students use the narrator’s point of view to explain how the meaning of a name grows across the book.

Discussion Questions:

• Can a name protect memory?
• Why do people want their names to be remembered?
• How does the child’s point of view shape the story?

Extension: Students write one sentence beginning, “A name matters because …”

Student Product: Name Matters Sentence

Materials: Interview sheet, writing paper, drawing materials

Students interview a family member or trusted adult about their name. If a student does not know the origin of their name, they may write about what their name means to them now or choose a nickname, middle name, family name or a word that represents them.

Students create a one-page name story that includes their name, what they learned, a drawing or symbol and a short reflection about how their name connects to their identity. Offer sentence starters to support younger writers.

Discussion Questions:

• What did you learn about your name?
• How did the story make you feel?
• How can we show respect for every name in our classroom?

Extension: Students may record an audio version of their name story for a class listening station.

Student Product: Personal Name Story Page

Materials: Small boxes or paper box templates, markers, paper, collage materials

Provide a paper box template to each student. Students decorate the paper box template to represent their identity. Once completed, construct the paper box. Inside the box, students place drawings or written notes showing people, places, traditions, values, languages, foods or memories that matter to them.

Connect this project to the book by explaining that the child’s name holds memories and meanings. Students consider what their own identity “holds” and how they can represent those ideas through symbols and words.

Discussion Questions:

• What would you place inside a box that represents you?
• How can symbols tell a story?
• Why are memories important to identity?

Extension: Students write a museum label explaining three items in their box.

Student Product: Identity Memory Box

Materials: Student projects, respectful listening anchor chart

Students share name stories, identity symbols or selected pieces from their projects in small groups. Before sharing, review respectful listening expectations: pronounce names carefully, listen without interrupting, ask kind questions and never make fun of a name or story.

After sharing, students reflect on what they learned about classmates. This activity builds classroom belonging while honoring the book’s message that every name deserves to be seen, heard, and remembered.

Discussion Questions:

• What did you learn about someone else?
• How did it feel to have others listen to your story?
• Why is it important to treat names with care?

Extension: Create a class book of name stories for the classroom library.

Student Product: Class Name Story Sharing

Materials: Interview questions, recording sheet, optional audio recorder

Students conduct a short interview with a family or community member about a tradition, memory, place or values that should be remembered. Provide flexible options so all students can participate, including interviewing a caregiver, neighbor, teacher, coach or family friend.

Students summarize the interview in a short report or illustrated response. Encourage them to connect the interview to the book by explaining how memories and stories help people understand who they are.

Discussion Questions:

• What story should not be forgotten?
• Who helped preserve that memory?
• How do stories connect generations?

Extension: Students may bring an object, drawing or photo connected to the interview if appropriate.

Student Product: Family or Community Heritage Report

Materials: Student work, display tables, comment cards, chart paper

Host a classroom celebration where students display their name stories, symbols, identity boxes and heritage projects. Arrange the room like a gallery so students can walk, view each other’s work and leave positive comments.

Conclude by creating a shared statement such as: “Our names matter. Our stories matter. We remember one another.” This celebration reinforces the book’s themes of dignity, visibility and belonging.

Discussion Questions:

• What makes our classroom community stronger?
• How can we make sure every person feels seen?
• What message from the book should we carry forward?

Extension: Invite another class or families to visit the gallery if appropriate.

Student Product: Classroom Identity Showcase

Discussion Questions:

• Why does the child want to know the meaning of their name?
• How do the mother, father and grandfather each add meaning to the child’s name?
• What memories are connected to the child’s name?
• Why might a name help someone feel proud?
• What symbols appear in the book, and what might they mean?
• Why do the children write their names carefully?
• How can names help people feel seen and remembered?
• What does this story teach us about identity and dignity?

Students write their names in large block letters and fill each letter with colors, patterns, symbols or small drawings that represent them. They may include favorite foods, places, traditions, hobbies, family memories or colors that feel meaningful.

After completing the mosaics, students share one design choice with a partner. Display the mosaics together to show that every name adds beauty to the classroom community.

Student Product: Personal Name Mosaic

Students create a collage of images and words that represent their family, community, interests or traditions. They may draw, cut pictures from magazines, use patterned paper or write descriptive words.

Students label at least five parts of the collage and explain how each piece helps tell something about who they are.

Student Product: Heritage Collage

Students participate in a short celebration where each child says their name aloud and shares one thing they want others to know about them. Students may also share a symbol, drawing or memory from the unit.

End with a class promise to say names carefully, listen respectfully and remember that every person has a story.

Student Product: Name Celebration Sharing

Essential Question: How do different families and cultures choose names?

What to Research:

• Naming ceremonies
• Names passed down through families
• Names connected to virtues, places or ancestors
• Respectful pronunciation of names

Student Project: Students create a comparison poster showing three naming traditions and one thing all traditions have in common.

Essential Question: What traditions, foods, arts and family practices are important in Palestinian communities?

What to Research:

• Olive harvest traditions
• Family gatherings
• Food and hospitality
• Music, embroidery, stories and community life

Student Project: Students create a culture spotlight page that includes drawings, facts and a short paragraph about one researched tradition.

Essential Question: Why are olive trees important in many places and cultures?

What to Research:

• Olive tree life cycle
• Olive harvest
• Olive oil uses
• Symbolic meanings of peace, endurance, land and nourishment

Student Project: Students create an illustrated mini book explaining the life and importance of olive trees.

Essential Question: What rights should all children have?

What to Research:

• Names and identity
• Safety
• Education
• Family and community
• The right to be remembered and protected

Student Project: Students design a children’s rights poster using simple language and child-friendly images.