The Name Jar Activities and Lesson Plan Ideas for Kids
- By Deedee Wills
- Updated on July 2
- 2 Comments
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If you’re planning your beginning-of-the-year literacy lessons, The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi is one of those picture books you can build an entire week around. In this post, I’ll walk you through how we use this story for interactive read-alouds, vocabulary, comprehension, and simple response activities that actually work with young learners. It’s an easy way to weave meaningful conversations about names and identity into your reading block without needing a complicated plan.
I’ve used this fiction book with kindergarten, first, and second grade students, and it never misses. Kids connect right away to Unhei’s story, and those connections lead to thoughtful discussions, strong language practice, and authentic engagement. If you’re looking for something that feels purposeful but still manageable during those busy first weeks, this is a favorite for a reason.
What is The Name Jar About?
Unhei is a young girl who recently moved from Korea to the United States. While on her bus ride on her first day of school, her new classmates laugh at her Korean name. When it’s time for Unhei to introduce herself in her new classroom, she decides to keep her name a secret. Unhei tells her classmates that she is still thinking about what American name to choose and will reveal it by the end of the week.
To support her, the boys and girls in her new school create a special glass jar where they suggest different names for Unhei. However, none of the names they propose feel quite right for her. Unhei finds comfort in the name stamp that was given to her by her grandmother in Korea and the importance of names. At the end of the story, Unhei decides she wants to keep her real name.
The Name Jar Reading Comprehension Activities
The Name Jar is such a natural fit for an interactive read-aloud, especially at the beginning of the year. As you read, you can pause at key moments to get kids thinking and talking. For example, when Unhei decides not to tell the class her name, that’s a great place to stop and ask, “Why do you think she made that choice?” Turn and talk gives every student a chance to process that moment and hear another perspective.
Later, when the class creates the name jar, you might ask, “How would you feel if your classmates were choosing a new name for you?” This keeps the conversation anchored in the story elements while helping students make meaningful connections.
In these discussions, you’re handling the reading, and your students are doing the thinking. Even your quieter students have a way in, and you’ll start to see their confidence grow as they share their ideas with a partner. You’re also building those oral language skills in a really natural way.
At the start of the year, you’ll likely model what these conversations look like, how to listen, how to respond, and how to stay on topic. But as your students get more comfortable, you can gradually step back and let them take more ownership.
And those same discussion questions? They work beautifully as follow-up responses. Early in the year, that might look like drawing and labeling how Unhei felt in a certain moment. It’s a simple way to connect critical thinking, talking, and early writing, all within one meaningful lesson.
The Name Jar Activities Making Predictions
During your first read of The Name Jar, pause at a moment that really invites prediction. One natural stopping point is right after Unhei decides not to tell the class her name. Ask, “What do you think she’s going to do next?” Then give students a chance to turn and talk so everyone can try out their thinking.
Instead of turning it into a guessing game, keep the focus on reasoning. You might follow up with, “What in the story makes you think that?” or “What has happened so far that helped you come up with that idea?” This shifts the goal from getting the “right” answer to explaining their thinking.
If students need support, model a quick example. “I’m thinking Unhei might try a new name because she seemed worried about how her classmates would react.” That simple model shows them how to use clues from the story, and it helps move the conversation beyond one-word predictions into real thinking.
The Name Jar Activities Retelling the Story with Sequencing Picture Cards
This wonderful story is perfect for retelling the story’s events. We use the story event cards to retell the story sequentially. Then students turn to their partners and practice retelling the story.
As the year progresses, we use transitional words like: first, then, next, and after that. It is amazing how this practice starts to seep into their writing! Our Name Jar literature companion unit includes the picture cards you see below.
If you don’t have our Engaging Readers, you can create your own story book companions:
- Create picture sequence cards representing key events from the book.
- Have children work in pairs or small groups to sequence the cards and retell the story using their own words.
- This retelling activity reinforces comprehension, sequencing skills, and oral communication.
The Name Jar Activities Inferring
It always surprises me how quickly young students begin to try out inferring, but they still need a lot of support to do it well. This moment in The Name Jar gives you a great opportunity to slow down and really model that thinking.
When Unhei goes into Mr. Kim’s store and sees Joey, students often jump to surface-level ideas like “he was just shopping” or “he followed her,” without thinking about what the author is showing us about his character. This is where we can nudge them to look a little closer.
You might ask, “Why do you think Joey showed up in this part of the story? What does that help us learn about him?” Then guide students to notice that Joey is curious about Unhei and is starting to care about her, even if he doesn’t say it directly.
To support the conversation, you can model your own thinking first. For example, “I’m thinking Joey didn’t just randomly go into that store. I’m noticing he’s paying attention to Unhei and wants to understand her better.” Then let students turn and talk, using that idea as a starting point for their own thinking.
This kind of guided discussion helps students move beyond quick guesses and start using clues from the story to build stronger inferences.
The Name Jar Activities Author’s Purpose
The Name Jar is such a strong choice when you want to talk about an author’s message because the big idea is so clear and meaningful for kids. As you read, students can easily see how Unhei struggles with whether to change her name to fit in, and that opens the door to a really important conversation.
This story works so well because the message is woven right into the events. When the class creates the name jar, it might seem kind at first, but students start to notice that it actually puts pressure on Unhei to change who she is. Then when she finally decides to keep her own name, that moment helps students see the author’s message about identity and belonging.
You might ask, “What is the author trying to show us about names and being yourself?” Some students will say it’s about being kind, which is a great start, but they often need help digging a little deeper. This is where you can guide them to think about how Unhei feels and how her classmates’ actions impact her.
A simple way to support the discussion is to go back to a specific page and say, “Let’s look at what just happened. How does this part help us understand the message?” That keeps students anchored in the text while they work toward a bigger idea.
Opinion Writing Activities for The Name Jar
When Unhei’s mother tells her that it’s good to be different, that’s a perfect place to pause and let students think a little deeper. Instead of just asking if they agree or disagree, invite them to connect it back to Unhei. You might say, “Why do you think her mom said that right then? How is Unhei feeling in this part of the story?”
Students will often say, “It’s good to be different,” but they may not connect it to Unhei’s experience and worry about fitting in. This is where you can gently guide them to notice that her mom is trying to help her feel proud of her name and who she is.
Have students turn and talk, then bring it back together by linking their ideas to the story. You can also invite them to share one way they are the same as their classmates and one way they are different. This keeps the conversation grounded while naturally building that sense of classroom community.
The Name Jar Vocabulary Lessons
Each week, we pull a couple of vocabulary words right from the picture book we’re reading, and The Name Jar gives us some really meaningful choices. For this lesson, we used the words concern and pronounce. These are strong Tier 2 words that show up naturally in the story and help students better understand what’s happening.
Concern connects directly to how Unhei is feeling as she worries about how her classmates will react to her name. Students don’t always pick up on that right away, so naming that feeling helps them make sense of her choices. Pronounce is just as important because it ties to the central problem in the story. Unhei is unsure if others will be able to say her name correctly, and that fear drives much of the action.
We connect each word back to specific moments in the text. For example, you might say, “Unhei had a lot of concern about telling her class her name. What was she worried might happen?” or “Why was Unhei concerned about how her classmates would pronounce her name?”
The real payoff comes when students start using the words themselves. You might hear a student say, “Unhei had concern because the kids couldn’t pronounce her name,” or see it show up in their writing as they draw and label how she felt at different points in the story.
Over time, those words stick because students are using them in a meaningful context that’s connected to the story
The Name Jar Craft
This is one of those fun activities that students can revisit all week. Students will create their own name jar with the letters of their names. Then students can unscramble the letters to reveal their classmates’ names. This activity gives you another opportunity to discuss the importance of our names.
We love a craft that does double duty… don’t you?
We love a craft that does double duty… don’t you?
The Name Jar Lesson Plans
Hey, we get it! We know elementary teachers are busy. So we have done the heavy lifting for you for this great story.
You will find all of the reading comprehension lessons, vocabulary activities, printable worksheets, graphic organizers, and the craft activity that I discussed above. Each activity is planned for you. All you need to do is print and teach! Easy! Each of the mentor texts has five days of meaningful lessons your students will love, AND they are back by brain research!
The Name Jar Read Aloud Video
Each day, you will want to read and reread the book as part of our close reading. However, offering another model of reading fluency is helpful (and rests your voice.)
This is a great video version of The Name Jar!
Additonal Name Activities for Centers
In kindergarten, we are all about learning our names. A few years ago, I created a set of editable name activities! You just enter a student name once, and all of the pages are filled in for you. Here is a peek!
Free Editable Lesson Plan Template
Would you like to download this free lesson plan template? Simply click on the lesson plan image below and you can download this file from my Google Drive… EASY!
More Lesson Plan Ideas
Here are a few more lesson plan ideas that are great from the beginning of the school year.
- Free Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse Activities and Lesson Plans
- Fun Chrysanthemum Book Activities and Lesson Plans – Free File
- The Dot Activities and Lesson Plans (Free File Too!)
- Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Activities-Lesson Plans & Free File
Do you want to see a whole year of lesson plans like this one?
I’ve got you!
Deedee Wills
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2 Responses
I am also an early childhood who strives to make learning fun. Thanks for all your help!
Wonderful!! Early Childhood is the best!