Getting the names down- any good ideas? What do you do?

[Kevin]

To help me remember all the names of my students, I take a small digital picture of each student and paste the picture right on my seating chart. This year I will just use my cell phone to do this as I can then quickly print out the pictures at home and then cut and paste. This is a big help to me as I usually have students with the same name and over 170 students.

[Britt Gow]

Great idea Kevin - do the students already know one another? I have a couple of games I play with year 7 students starting a new school, where they come from three or four different feeder schools and may not know one another.
The first one is a mnemonic game where they say their name and a food and country starting with the same letter. For example, "I'm Britt from Brazil and I like Blueberries." You could add extra layers of difficulty by having to repeat each student before you in the circle.

Last year I started to send an introductory letter to parents and students, with a little information about me and my expectations of students, to keep the lines of communication open. I ask that they email, phone or send a letter to tell me about their child - any special interests, strengths and difficulties, hopes, dreams or quirks. I only got a few responses last year, but those that took the time were worthwhile. it is very handy having the email adresses of parents to correspond with during the term. (I usually only have about sixty students to learn the names of, and being a small school of less than 300 from Prep to Year 12, we get to know them pretty quickly).

[Kevin]

Britt,
For the most part, my students don't know one another. I like your idea of having them think of a food and country that starts with their name. One time I tried to do rhymes--like Claire with nice hair-but many of the students coundn't match a word. I'll give the food idea a try, though. Thanks

[David]

What works best for me is that I make my seating charts with the kids in alphabetical order. Then I challenge myself to learn all the names within 2 weeks.

[Kevin]

That's what I do. Today I took a picture of each student and put it on the seating chart. I have 171 students so far this year. I don't think I'll get all the names in two weeks, but I'll try. Kevin