What's in a name?
Here's a very elementary code that requires young children to read a table, and look for similarities and differences.
Problem
What's in a Name printable sheet
Jim and Jan were having a chat about their names.
Jim said his name began with J and Jan said hers did too.
Jim said his name had three letters and Jan said hers did too.
Jim said his name had one vowel and Jan said hers did too.
Jim said his was 1 9 4
Jan said hers was 1 1 5
Can you see why?
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I |
| J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R |
| S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
What about your name?
What letter does it begin with?
How many vowels does it have?
If you used Jim and Jan's code, what numbers would your name give?
Can you match each of these names to its code?
Here's a set of letter cards you could cut out and use.
Getting Started
What is the same about the names Jamal and Jacob?
Is that a clue to which numbers they are?
Student Solutions
We had some good ideas as to what your names might be in the code we suggested. First, MaalavishaӬ at Flora Stevenson Primary SchoolӬ inthe UKӬ wrote;
This chart has numbers $1-9$ and letters A-Z. The numbers are in order above the letters which are also in order in rows of $9$. Jim and Jan got different number patterns because the last two letters of their names are different. Both of the names have $3$ letters and $1$ vowel but the vowels and the last $2$ letters are not the same. This is why for both the number patterns they have the same first number but the last two are different just like their names.
Lewis at ӬCitipointe Christian CollegeӬ in AustraliaӬ wrote;
My name begins with an L it has $5$ letters. $2$ of them are vowels. my name
in letters would be $35591$.
Lastly AnnieӬ at Fern Public SchoolӬ in CanadaӬ wrote;
My name would be $1 5 5 9 5$. Each column has one number and three letters. For example column $14$ has letters A J S. If your name started with A, J, or S you would put $1$ as the first number.
Thank you for these and others who probably worked on this fun challenge but did not send their work in.
Teachers' Resources
Why do this problem?
At its most basic this task is an exercise in reading and recording information from a table. It also offers opportunities for children to do some elementary reasoning as they compare results with each other and work out why they differ.
Possible approach
Write the two names, Jim and Jan, on the board and ask the children what is the same and what is different about them. (If you have large letter tiles you could use these to construct the names instead.)
Talk about codes and how sometimes letters are turned into numbers to make a message more difficult to understand. Copy the table onto the board (or show this PowerPoint slide) and ask the children if they can work out what the letters in Jim's name are worth. Record them and confirm that the children realise there is a many to one correspondence, letter to number.
Explore a couple of longer names, then offer the children some time to explore their own names and those of their friends.
Bring the children back together again and write 1 4 7, 1 5 5 5 and 1 5 4 8 on the board, together with the names Andy, Anne and Amy. Could they work in partners to work out which name is which set of letters? Share the children's explanations and then hand out the sheet of names to match to their codes. Emphasise that you are interested in how they work out which name is which as well as whether they work them out correctly.
Key questions
How will you record what you are finding out?
How did you know which set of numbers are which name?
What were your clues?
Possible extension
Once children have worked out the codes, challenge them to invent a set of names and codes for themselves, and to offer them to others in the class to solve. This will give them an additional insight into what makes a good code.
Others could make up a code using symbols instead of numbers. There is a blank set of letter cards to download which may prove useful.
The tasks It's a Scrabble and Some Secret Codes are good follow up activities for those who are confident.
Possible support
You can download a set of letter cards which some children may find useful to manipulate.