Narratives and Names

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Narratives and Names

Activity Description

This activity serves as an introduction to a narrative writing assignment. To provide context for this activity, teachers will give students an overview of the Census Bureau. Then, students will complete a Quickwrite about their name and its history. After that, students will examine and answer questions about census data on popular last names, listen to a story about names, and complete a Quickwrite about that story. To further prepare for their narrative writing assignment about names (which is not part of this activity), students will jot down their thoughts in a graphic organizer.

Suggested Grade Level

4-5

Approximate Time Required

160 minutes (potentially split across different days)

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to explain what the U.S. Census Bureau does, what type of data it collects, and what the data help explain.
Students will be able to reflect on their own name using descriptive details as part of a creative writing exercise.
Students will be able to use a graphic organizer to identify a topic, determine the series of events they want to tell (and in what order), develop characters, note important details, and describe a problem and solution in preparation for writing a narrative.

Materials Required

The student version of this activity, 9 pages
An age-appropriate story about a name (see the “During the Activity” section for ideas)
Teacher computer with Internet access and a projector to display Web sites