A noun, adjective, and verb activity for 1st to 3rd grade: sort 24 popcorn word cards into three buckets, then practice in sentences. Answer key included for easy checking.
Using Capitalize It Activity, students sort the topic cards into Do Capitalize and Don't Capitalize categories.
Using this Common and Proper Nouns Flash Cards, students sort the Common and Proper Flash Cards to the appropriate category.
This common and proper nouns activity has 1st to 3rd grade students sort snowflake word cards on a winter mat, with a practice page and answer key included for easy checking.
This L.2.1 Common Core activity has 1st-3rd grade students match picture cards for irregular plural nouns like mouse and mice, with a recording sheet, practice page and answer key included.
This getting down with proper nouns activity has students match common and proper noun cards, then write each proper noun with a capital. For 1st to 3rd grade, answer key included.
Using this There Was An Old Lady Animal Names Activity, students practice reading animal words to build reading fluency and recognition.
People, places, things and more!
First graders learn that a noun names a person, place, thing or animal, and a common noun is the everyday name for it, like dog, park or teacher. Then they meet proper nouns, the special names that get a capital letter: girl → Maya, city → Chicago. Kids practice finding nouns in sentences and sorting them into common and proper. The aha moment: they notice that a capital letter in the middle of a sentence usually means a proper noun is hiding there!
Nouns are everywhere, so first graders can find them all day long. These moves make the idea concrete and fun.
Flash a picture card and have kids shout the common noun: "Dog!" Then ask for a proper noun that fits: "Spot!" Pictures make the difference between a type of thing and its special name easy to see.
Why it works: children learn more from words and pictures together than from words alone (Mayer, 2009).
Try it withCommon and Proper Nouns Flash CardsFlash CardsOpen it →Write nouns on cards and set out two buckets labeled common and proper. Kids read a card, decide, and toss it in. When they get stuck, ask "Is this any dog, or one special dog?" That one question settles almost every card.
Why it works: the U.S. Department of Education's guide for teaching elementary math recommends moving from hands-on objects to drawings to numbers.
Try it withCommon and Proper Nouns ActivityActivitiesOpen it →Model a sentence on the board: "my friend sam lives in texas." Think aloud as you find each noun and decide if it needs a capital. Then kids fix two sentences of their own. Seeing the thinking first makes editing far less tricky.
Why it works: showing first, practicing together, then letting kids try alone is the "gradual release" model teachers have relied on for decades (Pearson and Gallagher, 1983).
Try it withCapitalize It ActivityActivitiesOpen it →First graders learn grammar best when they are moving and giggling. Try these!
ActivitiesRead the silly story and have kids name every animal the old lady swallows. Each one is a noun!
Open There Was An Old Lady Animal Names Activity →
ActivitiesKids sort word cards into nouns, verbs and adjectives. Act out the verbs for bonus giggles.
Open Noun, Adjective, and Verb Activity →
ActivitiesTurn common nouns into proper nouns: dog becomes Max, school becomes your school's name. Capital letters required!
Open Getting Down with Proper Nouns Activity →Teacher favorites right now: Noun, Adjective, and Verb Activity, Capitalize It Activity and Common and Proper Nouns Flash Cards.
A common noun is the general name for a person, place, thing or animal, like boy, store or cat. It starts with a lowercase letter unless it begins a sentence.
A common noun names any person, place or thing, and a proper noun names a specific one. Girl is common, and Emma is proper. Proper nouns always start with a capital letter.
Go on a noun hunt around the room or house and name everything you can touch or see. Then pick a few and give them special names. Hands-on hunting makes the idea stick fast.
Yes! Animals are nouns. Kids sometimes forget animals and only list people, places and things, so many teachers add animals to the definition in 1st grade.
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