When do you Capitalize? Worksheet

Capital letters tell a reader that a word is the name of one special person, place, day or thing. This When do you Capitalize? Worksheet helps 3rd grade students practice the rule in two clear steps. Instead of guessing, children look at a list of proper nouns that are printed in all small letters, decide what kind of name each one is, and then write it again with the right capital letters. Along the way they meet country, state, lake and river names, four holidays, a person’s name, a day of the week, a month and a language.

In Part A, students read eight proper nouns in a word box, such as lake erie, canada, labor day and thanksgiving, and sort them into a Places column and a Holidays column, writing every word of each name with a capital. In Part B, they read four sentences that each hide one proper noun with a small first letter, find it, and write it correctly on the line. A picture of a lighthouse on a lake shore and a waving flag shows one example from each column. Work through the first word in each part together, then let students finish on their own.

What’s Included

• An eight-word box of places and holidays printed without capitals
• A two-column Places and Holidays sorting chart with writing lines
• Four sentences, each with one proper noun to find and capitalize
• An answer key for quick checking

Why It Helps Kids

First, sorting makes the rule visible: children have to think about what kind of name a word is before they write it, so they learn why it needs a capital. Second, writing each name in full builds the habit of capitalizing every important word, as in Mississippi River and Independence Day. Third, the sentence items move the skill into real writing, where students must spot the mistake themselves, just as they will when they edit their own work.

Ideas for Teachers and Parents

Before starting, list the kinds of words that always begin with a capital letter and ask children for one example of each. After the page, have students add two more places and two more holidays of their own to the chart. Use this 3rd grade capitalization worksheet for morning work, a grammar center or homework, and pair the When do you Capitalize? worksheet with an editing page so students can practice finding capital letter mistakes in longer writing.

Related Resources

• Correcting Capitalization Worksheet
• Capitalization Errors Worksheet
• Capital Letters Examples Worksheet
• Days of the Week Song