LA 9.04Capital Letters and End Marks

1. 1

   Lay out the strip "The cat is on the mat." and read it together.

2. 2

   Point to the first letter: "A sentence begins with a capital letter."

3. 3

   Point to the period: "This dot is a period. It tells us the sentence is finished."

4. 4

   Read "Can the dog run?" and point to the question mark: "This sentence asks something, so it ends with a question mark."

5. 5

   Read both again, letting your voice drop at the period and rise at the question mark.

6. 6

   Show an unfinished strip. Read it, write the capital in the box, and place a period or question mark card at the end.

7. 7

   Invite the child to finish the other strips the same way.

8. 8

   Show how to check each one against the finished strips in the envelope.

What catches the child’s eye

• The voice dropping at a period and rising at a question mark
• Small period and question mark cards placed at the ends of strips

Extensions, easiest to hardest

1. Sorting strips into telling and asking sentences
2. Adding capitals and end marks to sentences built with the Moveable Alphabet
3. Capitals for names in the middle of a sentence ("Sam and Ana run.")
4. The exclamation mark for a sentence said with strong feeling