Capital and Lowercase
Background Information & Activities

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It is important for your children to know how to read and write both the capital and lowercase letters of the alphabet. It is also important for your children to understand when capital and lowercase letters are used in writing. The best way to do this is to expose your children to books, poems, and create a print-rich environment.

Capital letters are always used at the beginning of a sentence or title. Most words in title are capitalized, although short articles, prepositions, or conjunctions are usually not. Proper nouns are specific nouns that are always capitalized, such as names of people, streets, cities, countries, and organizations. We recommend watching the Nouns movie together as a review. The names of geographical points such as oceans and mountains are also capitalized. The first letter of months, days of the week, and holidays are capitalized. The word I is always capitalized even if it appears in the middle of a sentence. Encourage your children to think of different proper nouns and words that are capitalized.

Capital and Lowercase Teacher Activities – Click Here!

Capital and Lowercase Family Activities – Click Here!

Capital and Lowercase Teacher Activities

© 1999-2010 BrainPOP. All rights reserved.

Uppercase Reading

Make copies of a short picture book, short story, tall tale, or essay. Read the piece of writing out loud together and the have students underline each capital letter they see. Discuss why the word is capitalized. When are capitals used? Have students find a pattern or rule.

Learn from Mistakes

Have each student write sentences that contains errors in capitalization. Have them write the sentences on separate pieces of paper or index cards. Then have small groups swap cards and try to find the mistakes and correct them. Students can discuss how to fix each sentence and then move on to a different card. Then groups can swap cards with other groups and practice identifying and correcting mistakes.

Uppercase/Lowercase Bingo

Write all the lowercase and/or uppercase letters on scraps of paper and put them in a hat. Then have students make their own Bingo sheets using lowercase and/or uppercase letters. Draw letters out of the hat and say or write the letter on the board. For example, if you draw out an a you can either say “lowercase a” or write a on the board. The first student to get Bingo wins and can draw letters out of the hat.

Capital and Lowercase Family Activities

© 1999-2010 BrainPOP. All rights reserved.

Uppercase and Lowercase Labels

Review when people use uppercase and lowercase letters. Together with your child, find objects in your house that have words with uppercase and lowercase letters. Then use sticky notes and have your child label objects around the house. For example, your child can label a mirror, book, and table using lowercase letters. Encourage them to notice that brand names are proper nouns and therefore capitalized. Your child can also label a sticky note with his or her name, using a capital letter, and wear the label.

Calendar

Create a calendar with your child. Have him or her write out the days of the week and the months, using capital letters, and highlight important holidays such as Labor Day, President’s Day, Veteran’s Day, etc. Explain that holidays are proper nouns and should be capitalized.

Alphabet

Have your child practice writing the alphabet and create an alphabet book for lowercase and uppercase letters. Your child can illustrate an example of each letter. For example, your child can write “a is for apple” and draw a picture of an apple and then write “A is for Annie” and draw a picture of Annie. Go through all the uppercase and lowercase letters together and brainstorm different ideas and pictures to put into their book.