Chrysanthemum Activities for Kindergarten & First Grade: Name Crafts, Glyphs, and More for Back to School

The first week of school is all about helping students feel like they belong. You’re learning names, introducing routines, getting to know personalities, and trying to create a classroom where every child feels comfortable being themselves. That’s a lot to fit into those first few days! One of my favorite ways to start building that classroom community is with a good read-aloud. And when it comes to celebrating student names, Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes is one of those books that just fits. Come along to see all of my favorite Chrysanthemum activities to kick off the year!

Why Chrysanthemum Is a Great Back-to-School Read-Aloud

Names are a big deal to young students. For some children, their name is one of the first things they’re excited to write at school. For others, recognizing and spelling their name is still a work in progress. Either way, names give you an easy starting point for helping students learn about themselves and one another.

In case you have never read Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes, allow me to share some insight as to why this is the BEST book for the beginning of the year.

Chrysanthemum loves her name. In fact, she thinks it’s absolutely perfect until she starts hearing unkind comments from her classmates. The story gives you a natural opportunity to talk about names, kindness, feelings, and what makes each person special.

After reading Chrysanthemum, you can talk about what students like about their names, how many letters are in their names, and what sounds they hear. You can also ask how they might feel if someone said something unkind about their name and what they could do if they heard someone being unkind.

Simple, Easy-to-Use Name Activities

Here are some of my favorite free activities to continue to celebrate students’ names. Each of these is low-prep, so they do require you to do some work beforehand. However, each activity helps students learn to write and spell their name in fun and exciting ways.

Try Rainbow Name Writing

For a quick name-writing activity, give each student a piece of paper with their name written at the top. Students write their name several times, using a different crayon or marker color each time.

For kindergarten students who are still learning to form the letters in their names, you can provide a tracing version to rainbow write on top of. Students who are ready for more independence can copy their names on their own.

It’s colorful, simple, and gives you a quick look at which students recognize and can write the letters in their names.

Make Simple Name Puzzles

Another easy option is a name puzzle. To make them, write each student’s name on a sentence strip or index card. Cut between the letters and mix the pieces up. Students put the letters back in the correct order to rebuild their names.

For students who need extra support, leave a complete name card on the table for them to use as a model. Students who are ready for a challenge can try building their names without a model.

Name Hopscotch

Movement is a MUST in the primary grades. Try this activity to get kids up out of their seats.

Write the letters of a student’s name on separate pieces of paper and place them on the floor in a simple path. Students hop from letter to letter while saying each letter of their name. Once they reach the end, have them say their whole name.

For an extra challenge, mix up the letters and have students put them in the correct order before they hop. This works especially well as a quick small-group activity or movement break during the first week of school.

Chrysanthemum Themed Name Activity Packet

These activities are great when you need something quick. But if you want to turn Chrysanthemum into a full week of meaningful back-to-school activities, my ready-to-use activity pack can make your planning much easier!

This packet includes a variety of activities and crafts that will help you celebrate and practice student names for a whole week! All of these items are ready-to-use, so you don’t have to prep anything new or rush to put things together in the first few busy days of school.

Let me show you how you can use each of these activities to make Chrysanthemum more than just a read-aloud and into a set of activities students will love!

Chrysanthemum Name Activities for Different Learners

One of the best parts of using names for learning is that you can easily adjust the activity based on what your students need.

The Chrysanthemum Activities and Name Craft in this pack give you several options to choose from. Students can practice basic name writing, work on name-writing skills, or take their name study a little further by counting the consonants, vowels, and syllables in their names.

You’ll also find posters that help students identify consonants, vowels, and syllables, making it easier to introduce these concepts to young learners from the first week of school.

Start by choosing the version that best fits your students. A beginning kindergartner might trace or copy their name and count the letters. A student who is ready for more of a challenge might write their name independently, identify the vowels and consonants, and clap the syllables.

You can complete the activity as a whole group, use it during a small-group lesson, or place the pages in a literacy center. This flexibility is especially helpful at the beginning of the year when your kindergarten and first grade students can have such a wide range of skills.

Create a Chrysanthemum Flower Name Craft

Of course, you can’t read Chrysanthemum without making a flower!

The Flower Name Craftivity in this resource gives students another fun way to practice spelling their names while creating a colorful classroom display. Students write one letter of their name on each petal, then color their flower, cut it out, and assemble the pieces.

If you have students who need help with cutting, you can pre-cut the flowers and let them focus on writing, coloring, and assembling. To add more support for students who need it, you can write their name on the middle circle as a guide. Then it’s up to your students to color their flowers however they like!

These look fantastic displayed on a bulletin board or down the hallway when everyone is finished! You could turn the finished flowers into a bulletin board display with a title like “Our Names Help Us Bloom!” It’s a simple way to create a display that feels personal and creates classroom community because every flower belongs to one of your students.

Get to Know Your Students With a Chrysanthemum Glyph

The beginning of the school year is also about learning who your students are beyond their names. The Get to Know You Coloring Glyph gives you a fun way to do just that!

Before students begin, print the glyph pages and explain that they’ll answer questions about themselves by coloring part of their Chrysanthemum flower.

This is a great craft to complete together as a whole group. Read each question aloud, give students time to choose their answers, and then show them which color to use. This makes the activity accessible even for students who aren’t ready to read all of the questions independently.

As students work, you’ll learn together about everyone’s favorites and interests. That can lead to some really easy conversation starters during those first few days.

The pack also includes “We Read Chrysanthemum” posters that you can use as part of a bulletin board display alongside the finished glyphs. This craft quickly becomes a unique and quirky visual representation of your class, as all the flowers look different, with fun, unexpected color combinations.

Use Chrysanthemum Activities to Teach Kindness

This might be my favorite part of the entire book! Chrysanthemum gives you such a natural opening to talk about how our words can affect other people. The Kindness Lesson & Activity makes that lesson hands-on and engaging for young students.

Before reading the book a second time, give each student a paper heart. The resource includes both full-sheet and half-sheet heart options, so you can choose what works best for your class. Explain that students will gently crumple or fold their hearts whenever they hear an unkind comment made about Chrysanthemum.

Then read the story together. Each time an unkind comment happens, students make another fold or crumple in their heart. At the end, have students carefully smooth their hearts back out. Even though the hearts are flattened again, the wrinkles and marks are still there.

It’s such a simple visual, but young children can really understand the message: unkind words can leave a lasting impact.

From there, you can talk about what kindness looks and sounds like in your classroom. Ask students what they could say instead, what they could do if they hear someone being unkind, and how they can help someone feel welcome. It’s a great way to connect the story to the classroom community you’re working so hard to build during those first few weeks!

A Simple Monday-Friday Plan Using These Chrysanthemum Activities

You don’t have to cram all of these activities into one day. Instead, spread them throughout your first week so you can revisit the story and keep building on the same themes. Let’s look at a simple schedule for reading Chrysanthemum and using the Name Craft Packet that stretched across a full week of school.

Monday: Read Chrysanthemum + Name Activities

Prep: Choose the name activity that best fits your students and make copies.

Start the week by reading Chrysanthemum. Talk about what makes Chrysanthemum’s name special and invite students to share something about their own names. Then have students complete a name activity. Make sure to choose the version that aligns with your class’s skill level!

This is also a great opportunity to walk around the room and see which students can recognize, spell, and write their names independently.

Tuesday: Flower Name Craftivity

Prep: Choose the 6-, 8-, or 10-petal flower template for each student and make copies. Have crayons, scissors, and glue ready.

Review the letters in students’ names before they begin. Students write one letter on each petal, then color, cut, and assemble their flowers. As students work, help them check that their letters are in the correct order.

Wednesday: Get to Know You Glyph

Prep: Print the glyph pages and have crayons or colored pencils ready.

Complete the questions together as a class. Read each question aloud and give students time to choose their answers and color their flowers. When students finish, invite them to share one of their answers with a partner. Display the completed glyphs alongside the “We Read Chrysanthemum” posters.

Thursday: Kindness Lesson

Prep: Print the heart activity and have students place one heart at their workspace before you begin reading.

Read Chrysanthemum together again and have students crumple or fold their hearts each time they hear an unkind comment. At the end, smooth out the hearts and talk about the marks that remain.

Then brainstorm a few kind words and actions your class can use when someone feels left out, sad, or hurt.

Friday: Celebrate Your Classroom Community

Prep: If you haven’t already, display the completed name flowers and glyphs where students can see them.

Take a few minutes to look at all of the flowers together. Invite students to share something they learned about a classmate or something they like about their own name. You might finish the week by asking, “What makes our classroom special?”

By Friday, you’ve practiced names, worked on early literacy skills, learned more about your students, created classroom decor, and started an important conversation about kindness. And you didn’t need to spend hours figuring out what to do each day!

Make Your First Week Easier With These Chrysanthemum Activities

The first week of school is already so full. Between teaching routines, finding lost water bottles, helping students open snack packages, and answering approximately 47 questions about when it’s time for lunch, you don’t need to make every activity from scratch!

This Chrysanthemum Back-to-School Activity Pack gives you four ready-to-use activities for kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. You get name activities, a get-to-know-you glyph, a kindness lesson and activity, and a flower name craftivity. The activities are also easy to differentiate, so you can choose the version that makes sense for the students in front of you.

If you’re planning to read Chrysanthemum during the first week of school, this pack gives you an easy way to turn one beloved read-aloud into several days of meaningful learning. You’ll have everything ready to go, so you can spend less time planning and more time getting to know the little people who are going to fill your classroom this year. Head to TPT to grab your copy today!

Here’s to a first week filled with lots of learning, lots of laughter, and plenty of opportunities for your students to learn that their names, their voices, and their place in your classroom matter!

Read These Next!

• What To Do On The First Day Of School
• Back to School Math Games for First Graders
• First Day of School Icebreaker Games Your Students Will Love

Save These Chrysanthemum Activities

Preparing for back-to-school season in your room? Save this post on Pinterest so you’ll have it when you’re ready to plan your own week of Chrysanthemum Activities!