Lesson plan
Proper Noun Town
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to accurately capitalize proper nouns.
Introduction
(5 minutes)
- Ask students to pair up and discuss the question What is a noun?
- Give students a minute to discuss, then ask a few volunteers to share their answers.
- Clarify that nouns are people, animals, places, and or things. Have students provide a few examples of each.
Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling
(10 minutes)- On the board, make a list of student examples of nouns.
- If a student names a proper noun, separate it from the list of common nouns (but do not capitalize it).
- After creating a list of about 15-20 nouns, tell students that they will be watching a video which explains more about a special type of noun.
- Ask students to think during the video about why the nouns they named were separated into two groups.
- Play the Noun TownVideo.
- Ask students why they think you made two columns instead of one.
- Start to capitalize the proper noun list and ask for a volunteer to give a name to each column.
- Ask students to turn and talk to their partners again.
- This time, ask them: What is a proper noun?
- Invite volunteers to share their definitions.
- Develop a class definition for proper nouns. Make sure to emphasize that Proper nounsRefer to specific people, places, or things.
Guided practise
(10 minutes)- Introduce the Proper Noun Town project.
- Model the process of drawing a school and giving it a name. Use all lowercase letters and ask students if it looks right.
- Explain that if you called the building "a school", it would be a Common noun. However, it has a specific name, so the words all need capital letters.
- Allow students time to brainstorm lists of proper people, places, and things which could be proper nouns you would find in a town. Make a list of students' suggestions on the board.
Independent working time
(25 minutes)- Distribute the white construction paper and art supplies.
- Have students draw common town buildings and label them with proper nouns.
- Circulate the room and monitor students as they work.
Differentiation
- Enrichment:Use the "challenge" rubric for advanced students.
- Support:Use the "differentiated" rubric for struggling students.
Assessment
(10 minutes)- Distribute the Get into Grammar: Capitalizing Proper Nouns worksheet.
- Have students complete it independently.
- Collect the worksheets once they're done, and review them later to assess student comprehension.
Review and closing
(10 minutes)- Have each student share his town with two other students
- Say a few common nouns aloud. For each common noun, ask students for 4-5 examples of a corresponding proper noun.
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