Last month, one of the teachers at my school asked if I could work on names and spelling this semester. Of course, I gladly agreed and came up with a cute little tune to do just that. Many of the students here are nonverbal or cannot spell, but that hasn’t stopped them from enjoying the song. It’s so much fun to see a child light up when they hear their name being sung and spelled by me and the staff.
Everybody has a name, you know,
You hear people say it everywhere you go.
Some names are short, some names are long,
We’ll sing about your name in this song.
I see a boy named Nathan;
Nathan is sitting right there,
So please join in and sing with me,
As we spell his name with care:
N-A-T-H-A-N. Nathan!
I see a girl named Brooke;
Brooke is sitting right there,
So please join in and sing with me,
As we spell her name with care:
B-R-O-O-K-E. Brooke!
I see a boy/girl named _________;
________ is sitting right there,
So please join in and sing with me,
As we spell his/her name with care:
_-_-_-_-_-_-_. _________!
I used two of my own students’ names as examples, though obviously you’d replace these with your students. I go around the room and look directly at each child as I sing about him/her so that he/she knows that it is his/her turn. Many of the teachers or staff use sign language to spell out the names as I sing them.