Random Name Picker

Spin the Random Name Generator Wheel!

Do you need an easy way to generator a random student name? Get ready to spin the  wheel!

This free random name picker for teachers was created by the teacher team at Teach Starter to make it easy for you to use in the classroom. The handy digital tool allows you to enter your students’ names, and you’ll get a random name generated for you — no accusations of favoritism here!

How do you use the random name generator wheel? It’s a breeze! Check out the short walk-through video below!

Ways to Use the Random Name Picker in Your Classroom

A student name randomizer is a great tool for classroom games or when prompting students to answer questions, and it can also be used to assign student jobs, pick a new line leader … really the sky is the limit! This crucial tool in your teacher toolkit also helps you save paper — no more picking names out of a hat when a random name is picked for you.

Take a look at some of our teacher team’s favorite ways to use a random name generator in our own classrooms, including ways to incorporate this free tool into your core subject work!

Select Classroom Prize Winners

Do you give out classroom prizes? Wondering how to add an engaging element? The Teach Starter random name picker widget is your new best friend. Load student names into the randomizer, and let it spin!

Explore Probability in Math Class

Use the random name selector to teach your class a lesson on probability. Input as many or as few names as you like, and tabulate the randomly selected results. If you prefer to tie this activity in with a themed lesson, why not change the class list names to vocabulary words?

Some ideas for using the results generated:

• Create a tally table of results.
• Create a graph of your results. Use a blank graph template to represent how many times each word was chosen after a certain number of clicks.
• Challenge students to determine the probability of each word before and after you add or remove words, or even if you input words more than once!
• Complete a frequency table of how often each word is selected.

Put a New Spin on Taking Attendance

Make taking attendance a little more fun. Input your class list into the random name selector, and click spin!

Want to use your list day after day? Go check out the Gallery tab on your home feed. Click on the Word Lists tab, and create a new list to save your class list for future use each time you pull up the random name picker!

Don’t want to repeat a student as you work your way down the class list? That’s easy: As each name is read out, click “remove name?” to ensure it doesn’t come up again. This can help with your classroom management in the morning too — after all, if the names are randomized, students will have to listen quietly to ensure they hear when their name is called.

Randomize Questions in the Classroom

Do you have students who often fly under the radar when it comes to class participation? Randomize name selection to make sure you’re calling on every student equally (and check out how to make good use of equity sticks in your class).

Assign Groups or Teams and Match Buddies

If you are splitting your class into small groups or pairing up students, this widget makes the perfect tool to ensure fairness and no favorites.

Some opportunities for you to use the random name picker widget to group your students could be:

• When designating working groups
• During lessons where your students are paired up with students from other classes
• While asking students to peer review each others’ work
• When assigning groups for assessment purposes

Spelling Warm Up

Students’ names can be interesting and unique — just like the students themselves! Use student names in a literacy warm-up to help your students practice their basic spelling and word analysis.

Some ideas of literacy activities to do with student names:

• Say it, spell it, and then segment it into syllables in unison
• Count the vowels and consonants
• Research the word origin
• Break into its phonemes
• Use it in a sentence
• Find rhyming words
• Progress through our Word of the Week Poster, completing a box a day!

Pick a Random Name for Line Leaders

Use our random name picker to choose line leaders and line-up orders that are new every day or week of the school year.

Randomize Classroom Job Delegation

Classroom jobs are great for teaching your students responsibility and for making the running of your classroom just a little bit easier. Make choosing who gets to clean up the whiteboard and more easier and fairer with a randomizer.

Choose Random Names for Class Presentations

If your students love show and tell, they’ll be clamoring to go first when it’s their day. Help make the process a little more civilized by putting the day’s list of presenters into the widget, and watch it spin!

This can also be used when you’ve assigned presentations where students are nervous to be first to present in front of the class. Use the random name generator to create a list that maps out who will present first, second, and so on.

Random Name Picker = Teacher’s Secret Helper

The random name selector also has a very special function as a teacher’s secret helper.

When it’s 8 a.m. on a Friday, and you’ve just been reminded (whoops!) that you have to nominate a child for student of the month or to represent your class at a school-wide function, you may find this tool comes in VERY handy.