Capitalization Rules: Mastering Proper Use

Section role: This presentation supports the 'Rules of the Road: Mastering Capitals' section while the teacher directly instructs students on the four primary capitalization rules for 4th graders. Slides: (1) Title Slide: 'Mastering Capital Letters: Rules of the Road' – introducing the lesson's core topic. (2) Why Capital Letters? – bullet points recalling the 'traffic signals' concept from Section 1, showing a sentence without capitals and its corrected version. (3) Rule 1: Start of a Sentence – claim: every sentence begins with a capital letter; example: 'the dog barked.' becomes 'The dog barked.'; visual cue. (4) Rule 2: Proper Nouns – claim: names of specific people, places, and brands get capitals; examples: 'Maria', 'Colombia', 'Bogota', 'Apple' (the brand); visual distinction between 'apple' (fruit) and 'Apple' (brand). (5) Rule 3: The Pronoun 'I' – claim: the pronoun 'I' is always capitalized; example: 'my friend and i went to the park.' becomes 'My friend and I went to the park.'; simple visual. (6) Rule 4: Dates and Holidays – claim: specific days of the week and months are capitalized; examples: 'Monday', 'April', 'Christmas'; contrast with 'tomorrow' or 'today'. (7) Spot the Errors! – interactive slide with three sentences containing capitalization mistakes related to the four rules; students identify corrections (e.g., 'on tuesday, i saw a bird in the park near my house in medellin.'). (8) Quick Check: Why Capitalize? – prompt: 'Why is the word Saturday capitalized but the word tomorrow is not?' to bridge to the next activity and reinforce understanding. This material is part of a English foreign-language class for students in Colombia learning English. Regardless of the material's language, the key terms and examples being taught must be written in English, not in the students' native language.

Lara de Teachy