A desk plate that teaches
A name plate is a reference children look at all day: how to write their own name, how each letter looks, and where numbers sit on the number line.Ready for the first week
Make the name plates, then a class pack and name tracing pages from the same class list.In NZ classrooms
- Te WhārikiThe Mana whenua | Belonging strand includes children learning how things work in their new place; a name at their own spot helps.
- First 6 monthsNew entrants learn the alphabet and its sounds, and read, say and write the numerals 0 to 20.
The 0 to 20 number line on the desk plate covers the number range new entrants work with in their first six months, so it stays useful well into Year 1.
Names with macrons, such as Tāne or Hēmi, print with them, so type each name the way the child’s whānau writes it. Many schools take new entrants as they turn five or at the start of each term, so keep the class list saved and print a plate on the day a new child arrives.
Year placements summarised in our own words from the Ministry of Education’s guide to the New Zealand Curriculum, Years 0–8, and Te Whāriki (2017).
