Grade 1 Fall — Sentence Mechanics, Noun-Verb Grammar, and the Three Text Types in Full Sentences
Lesson 13 30 min eng.g1.f.lesson_13.proper_nouns_names_places_days

Proper nouns — names of people, places, days of the week

Skills targeted
Objectives
  • Students distinguish common and proper nouns.
  • Students capitalize names of people, places, and days of the week in writing.
Vocabulary
common nounproper nounnamespecific

Lesson plan

Warm-up

3 min

Roll-call: each child says their name (proper noun) and one common noun for themselves (e.g., 'I am Maria, a STUDENT').

Teacher moves
  • Reinforce proper-vs-common distinction

Direct instruction

10 min

You learned NOUNS name people, places, things. Now: some nouns name SPECIFIC people, places, or things. These are PROPER nouns. They always start with a capital letter. 'Dog' is common. 'Bella' (a specific dog's name) is proper — capital B. 'School' is common. 'Lincoln Elementary' (a specific school) is proper. 'Day' is common. 'Monday' (a specific day) is proper.

Key examples
  • Generic — any teacher.
    model Common.
    prompt Common or proper: 'teacher'?
  • Specific — capital M and capital S.
    model Proper.
    prompt 'Mrs. Smith'?
  • Generic.
    model Common.
    prompt 'city'?
  • Specific — capital C.
    model Proper.
    prompt 'Chicago'?
  • Days of the week are proper — capital T.
    model Proper.
    prompt 'Tuesday'?
Checks for understanding
  • Common or proper: 'park'? (common)
  • 'Central Park'? (proper)
  • 'school'? (common)
  • Capital on 'Monday'? (yes)
Media
M-1-F-GR-13-A Chart Physical / non-image

Anchor chart 'Common vs. Proper Nouns'. Two columns: COMMON (no capital) — examples: girl, city, day, dog. PROPER (capital first letter) — examples: Maria, Chicago, Monday, Bella. Each proper noun has its capital highlighted in green. Footer: 'Names of people, places, days are PROPER — always capitals.'

Guided practice

12 min
Tasks
  • Sort 20 cards into common and proper piles.
    scaffold Reference chart.
  • Fix 5 sentences with capitalization errors.
    scaffold Error patterns include: missing cap on name, missing cap on day, missing cap on place.
  • Write a sentence with one proper noun (your name) and one common noun.
    scaffold Frame: '___ is a ___.'
Media
M-1-F-GR-13-B Chart
Wall chart 'Days of the Week (Proper Nouns!)'. Seven cards: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sund

Wall chart 'Days of the Week (Proper Nouns!)'. Seven cards: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Each capital first letter highlighted in green. Used as daily reference for capitalization.

Formative assessment

2 min
Exit ticket
  • Capitalize correctly: 'i went to chicago on monday.'
scoring All 4 capitals correct (I, Chicago, Monday, and the start of the sentence which is I) = mastery; 3/4 = practicing; <3 = reteach.

Closure

Moves
  • Chant: 'Names of people, places, days — CAPITAL!'

Homework

5 min
Tasks
  • Find 5 proper nouns at home (people's names, place names, days). Write them with capital letters.

Exercises in this lesson

eng.g1.f.ex_18
Sort these into COMMON and PROPER piles: cat, Tuesday, school, Maria, doctor, Chicago, park, Mr. Smith, Monday, friend
 sort · diff 3
eng.g1.f.ex_19
Fix the capitalization: 'i went to chicago with maria on monday and we ate at central park.'
 correct errors · diff 4

Differentiation

Scaffolds
  • Reduce to people-names only
  • Pre-sorted demo cards
  • Visual reminders on paper
Extensions
  • Add holiday names (preview)
  • Add titles like 'Doctor' (preview G2)
  • Identify proper nouns in a paragraph
English Learners
  • Bilingual examples
  • Note: some languages don't capitalize the same way (German capitalizes all nouns) — discuss
  • Repeated practice
Ieps 504s
  • AAC
  • Pre-built choices
  • Reduced volume

Teacher notes

Proper noun capitalization is a high-frequency convention error in Grade-1 writing. Days of the week and personal names are the most-missed. Make this a class display and revisit weekly.