How Common Is Your Name?

       Have you ever wondered if there are other people who have your same first and last name? I certainly never thought I would find so many people with the same first and last name as me. My boyfriend is currently in law school and he became friends with a student with the last name Wolf. It turns out that this student has a cousin named Vanessa Wolf, which is also my name. I thought it was such a crazy coincidence that there is a girl with the same first and last name as me. A week later, my boyfriend bought me a massage. The lady at the massage place asked him if I had ever been there and decided to look up my name in the computer. She rattled off over a dozen people who have been to that massage place with the same first and last name as me. He made a comment that Vanessa and Wolf are not very common names, but she highly disagreed. I then decided to Google my name. I was astounded at how many people have my name. It is fun to see what the people look like or do for a living. I then took it a step further and Googled my first, middle, and last name. There are people out there with the same first, middle, and last name as me! I never thought my name was that common, but apparently it is. According to the following website:  http://www.babycenter.com/popularBabyNames.htm?year=1987 Vanessa is number 44 on the list of Popular Baby Names for 1987 (the year I was born).

Click here to find out popular names in 1987

 

 

Vocabulary Words:

1. Wondered

2. Coincidence

3. Rattled

4. Dozen

5. Google

6. Astounded

7. Apparently

Definitions:

1. Wondered: to think

2. Coincidence: chance or luck

3. Rattled: to talk rapidly

4. Dozen: twelve

5. Google: to search for something on the Internet

6. Astounded: amazed or shocked

7. Apparently: being able to see or realize

Vocabulary Cloze Exercise:
1. The girl _________________ if she was going to get everything on her Christmas list.

2. It was not a ________________ that they were both at the library.

3. The teacher _______________ off the names of her students.

4. There are a ________________ eggs in the carton.

5. I used _______________ to search for a nearby toy store.

6. The mother was __________________ when the baby began to walk.

7. _________________, the whole block does not have their electricity.

Grammar Point: End Punctuation
A punctuation mark is bossy; it tells you what to do. Each punctuation mark has a job. A period goes at the end of a sentence and tells you to stop when you are reading. It’s the end of a thought. For example, My cat is black. He sleeps on my bed. He is very lazy. A question mark goes at the end of a sentence and tells you that it’s a question. It also tells you that you should raise your voice toward the end. Example: What is your name? Where do you live? An exclamation point tells you to say it with excitement or to yell it. Example: We won the game! Stop! Look!

Grammar Activity
Students will read through an excerpt from Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. They will circle the periods, underline the question marks, and highlight the exclamation points. Then, they will read each sentence with expression and how the sentence should be read according to the punctuation mark.