Capital Commanders Lesson Plan
Students will correctly capitalize the names of months, days of the week, and holidays in written sentences.
Learning to capitalize months, days, and holidays correctly helps students write clearly and understand grammar rules. This skill is fundamental for all future writing and reading tasks.
2nd Grade Special Education Students
Direct Instruction, Guided Practice, Independent Practice
Prep
Teacher Preparation
15 minutes
Step 1
Warm-Up: Capital Letters Review
5 minutes
- Engage: Begin by asking students, "What is a capital letter? When do we use them?" (Expected answers: beginning of sentences, names of people/places).
2. Connect: Explain that today we'll learn about more special words that always need a capital letter.
Step 2
Introduce Months, Days, Holidays
10 minutes
- Direct Instruction: Use the Slide Deck: Capital Commanders to introduce the concept of capitalizing months, days, and holidays.
2. Slide 1-2: Review what a capital letter is.
3. Slide 3-5: Present each category (months, days, holidays) with clear examples. Read each example aloud and emphasize the capitalized word.
4. Guided Practice: On Slide 6, work through the
Step 3
Independent Practice: Worksheet
8 minutes
- Distribute: Hand out the Worksheet: Capitalization Challenge to each student.
2. Instructions: Explain that students will read sentences and correct the capitalization for months, days, and holidays.
3. Support: Circulate around the classroom, offering individual support and prompting students to recall the rules discussed in the slide deck.
Step 4
Activity: Capitalization Sort (Optional Extension)
5 minutes
- Introduce: If time permits, or as a follow-up activity, introduce the Activity: Capitalization Sort.
2. Instructions: Students will sort word cards into two piles: 'Needs a Capital Letter' and 'Doesn't Need a Capital Letter'. Emphasize looking for months, days, and holidays.
3. Discuss: Briefly discuss a few sorted words as a class, reinforcing why they belong in each category.
Step 5
Cool-Down: Quick Check
2 minutes
- Recap: Ask students to quickly name one type of word that always needs a capital letter (month, day, or holiday).
2. Review: Briefly recap the main rules for capitalization taught today.
