Let’s learn about capitalization and punctuation! These are important rules that help us write clearly and correctly. We’ll start with capitalization.
Here are five simple rules to remember:
Whenever you use the word “I,” make sure it’s capitalized. For example, “After cleaning my room, I will go to the park.”
The first word in any sentence should always start with a capital letter. For example, “The bunny sat in the grass.” The “T” in “The” is capitalized.
Proper nouns are special names for people, places, animals, and things. They should always be capitalized. For example, “Jake and Tom rode their bikes to Turtle Pond with their dog, Max.”
Always capitalize the names of dates, months, and days of the week. For example, “My birthday is on Wednesday, April 12th.” The “W” in “Wednesday” and the “A” in “April” are capitalized.
Holidays are special days, so their names should be capitalized. For example, “Christmas” and “Halloween” are my favorite holidays. The “C” in “Christmas” and the “H” in “Halloween” are capitalized.
Let’s practice finding mistakes in sentences:
1. “I am going to Florida for Memorial Day.” Here, “Florida” and “Memorial Day” need to be capitalized because they are a place and a holiday.
2. “today is Saturday.” The word “today” should be capitalized because it’s the first word in the sentence. “Saturday” needs to be capitalized because it’s a day of the week.
3. “is Mrs. Smith going to Willow Park with her class?” “Is” should be capitalized because it’s the first word. “Mrs. Smith” and “Willow Park” are proper nouns, so they need to be capitalized too.
4. “John, Sam, and I are helping Mr. Erwin with his fence.” “Sam” and “I” are already capitalized correctly. “Fence” doesn’t need to be capitalized because it’s not a proper noun.
Now, let’s learn about punctuation marks that go at the end of sentences:
We use a period at the end of a statement or command. A statement gives information, like “The dog is in his house.” A command tells someone to do something, like “Please water the flowers.”
A question mark is used at the end of a question. Questions ask for information, like “What time are we going to the show?”
Exclamation marks show excitement or strong feelings. For example, “Hooray! I got five dollars for my birthday!”
Let’s practice adding the correct punctuation:
1. “The clock is broken.” This is a statement, so it ends with a period.
2. “Did you see the moon last night?” This is a question, so it ends with a question mark.
3. “Put your toys away, please.” This is a command, so it ends with a period.
4. “We won the championship!” This is exciting, so it ends with an exclamation mark.
5. “Read your books quietly.” This is a command, so it ends with a period.
6. “Where is my lunch?” This is a question, so it ends with a question mark.
Now you know how to use capitalization and punctuation! Keep practicing, and you’ll become a great writer!
Capitalization Hunt: Go on a capitalization hunt in your favorite storybook! Find and write down five sentences that use capitalization correctly. Look for capitalized “I,” the first word in a sentence, proper nouns, dates, and holidays. Share your findings with a friend or family member and explain why each word is capitalized.
Punctuation Detective: Become a punctuation detective! Listen to a short story read by a parent or teacher and raise your hand every time you hear a sentence that should end with a period, question mark, or exclamation mark. After the story, draw a picture of your favorite part and write a sentence about it, using the correct punctuation at the end.
Create a Capitalization and Punctuation Poster: Make a colorful poster that shows the rules of capitalization and punctuation. Use drawings, stickers, or magazine cutouts to illustrate examples of each rule. Hang your poster in your room or classroom to remind you and your friends of these important writing rules!
Here’s a sanitized version of the provided YouTube transcript, with proper capitalization and punctuation:
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There are five rules for capitalization:
1. Always capitalize the pronoun “I.” For example, “After cleaning my room, I will go to the park.”
2. Always capitalize the first word in a sentence. For example, “The bunny sat in the grass.” The “T” in “The” is capitalized.
3. Always capitalize proper nouns. These are special names for people, places, animals, and things. For example, “Jake and Tom rode their bikes to Turtle Pond with their dog, Max.”
4. Always capitalize dates, months of the year, and days of the week. For example, “My birthday is on Wednesday, April 12th.” The “W” in “Wednesday” and the “A” in “April” are capitalized.
5. Always capitalize holidays. For example, “Christmas” and “Halloween” are my favorite holidays. The “C” in “Christmas” and the “H” in “Halloween” are capitalized.
Let’s look at some sentences and see if we can find the mistakes. Here is the first sentence: “I am going to Florida for Memorial Day.” The word “Florida” needs to be capitalized because it is a proper noun, or a special name for a place, and “Memorial Day” also needs to be capitalized because it is a holiday.
Find the mistakes in this sentence: “today is Saturday.” The word “today” needs to be capitalized because it is the first word in the sentence. “Is” does not get capitalized because it is not the first word, a proper noun, a date, or a holiday. “Saturday” does need to be capitalized because it is a day of the week.
Find the mistake in this sentence: “is Mrs. Smith going to Willow Park with her class?” “Is” is capitalized because it is the first word in the sentence. “Mrs.” and “Smith” should both be capitalized because “Mrs. Smith” is a proper noun. “Willow Park” is also a proper noun, so we need to capitalize it.
Find the mistakes in this sentence: “John, Sam, and I are helping Mr. Erwin with his fence.” “Sam” is a proper noun and needs to be capitalized. “I” is a special pronoun that always gets capitalized, but “fence” does not need to be capitalized because it is not the first word, a proper noun, a date, or a holiday.
There are four types of punctuation that we will use at the end of a sentence:
1. The first is a period. We use a period at the end of a statement. A statement is a sentence that tells you information; it can be a fact, a thought, an opinion, or an idea. For example, “The dog is in his house.” “I want to make a sandcastle.” “I like to ride roller coasters.” Notice that all three statements end with a period. A period can also be used at the end of a command. A command is a sentence that tells you to do something. For example, “Please water the flowers.” “Go to the store and get some milk.” “Please mow the grass tomorrow.” Notice that all three sentences end with a period.
2. We use a question mark at the end of a sentence that is a question. A question is a sentence that asks something. We ask questions to find out information. Questions usually begin with who, what, where, when, why, how, is, are, was, were, can, or did. For example, “What time are we going to the show?” “Can you help me with my homework?” “Where did that book come from?” “Is that your teddy bear?” Notice that all four of these sentences end with a question mark.
3. Exclamation marks can be used at the end of an exclamation. An exclamation is a sentence that shows excitement, surprise, or strong feelings. We use exclamations to show someone that we are very happy, very excited, surprised, very angry, or very sad. Exclamation sentences can also show a sense of emergency if something is urgent or very important. For example, “Hooray! I got five dollars for my birthday!” “I cannot wait for the concert!” “Help! My cat is stuck in a tree!” Notice that all three sentences end with an exclamation mark.
Okay, now let’s practice some of these. Add the correct punctuation to these sentences and tell why you chose it.
1. “The clock is broken.” What punctuation would you end this sentence with? I added a period because it is a statement telling us a fact: the clock is broken. It is not a question or an exclamation.
2. “Did you see the moon last night?” What punctuation would you end this sentence with? I added a question mark because it is asking us a question.
3. “Put your toys away, please.” What kind of punctuation would you add at the end of this sentence? I added a period because it is a command telling us to do something.
4. “We won the championship!” What kind of punctuation would you put at the end of that sentence? I added an exclamation mark because it is full of excitement.
5. “Read your books quietly.” What kind of punctuation would you use at the end of that sentence? I added a period because it is a command telling us to do something.
6. “Where is my lunch?” What kind of punctuation would you put at the end of that sentence? I added a question mark because it is asking us a question.
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This version includes proper capitalization and punctuation throughout the transcript.
