Lesson video

Hi, my name's Miss Toole, and this is Oscar the Owl.

And in today's lesson, we're going to be exploring the use of capital letters for the names of people and places.

And you are going to need a Teddy talk partner for today's lesson.

So go and grab a Teddy and then carry on to see what we're going to be doing.

So in today's lesson we're going to be exploring capital letters.

We're going to be looking at capital letters for names, and then we're going to play a bit of a game.

So you're going to need a piece of paper, a pencil or a pen, your amazing brain, your Teddy talk partner if you'd like to bring one, and your fabulous self.

So go and grab your resources now, and, when you're ready to go, you can press play.

Now, Oscar, before we start looking at when to use capital letters, I want to see if we know the difference between a capital and a lowercase letter.

So have a look at the screen, and on the screen I have got a mixture of capital and lowercase.

And I was wondering if you can point to the screen at all the capital letters? So have a look.

Can you point to the capital letters? So we have here a D.

Can you find another one? We have Y here.

M here.

And Q here.

Oh, Oscar thinks that is a capital letter.

What do you think at home? Is it a capital or is it a lowercase? Oscar, that's a lowercase.

That's an a, a, a.

To be a capital, we'd have to have our capital A.

Oscar, that is an a.

Well done for having a go, because sometimes we do get a bit confused.

Ask your Teddy talk partner, can they find all the lowercase letters on our screen? Oscar, can you find all the lowercase letters? We do, we have an f here.

Well done, Oscar.

We've got an n here.

Oh, and there's one more.

Has your Teddy talk partner found it? Well done, Oscar.

We've got the e, e, e here.

So, on the next slide, I now have some different capital letters and lowercase letters, but they match up.

So I want you to use your pointy finger with your Teddy talk partner and draw a line on the screen to match up the capital to the lowercase.

So I will do the first one with Oscar as an example.

And then I want you to have a go at doing the three on your own.

So here, we've got a Q.

Can you find the matching one? Now I know this is a capital, so I'm looking for a lowercase.

Hm, that's a lowercase letter, but it's not matching my Q.

That's a lowercase letter, but that's right, Oscar, that's not the q.

That's the capital, capital, capital.

Ooh, this is a lowercase.

What'd you think? That does match, so I would draw an imaginary line like this across and then move on to the next one.

So look at the top four and draw your lines to match the capital to the lowercase.

And if you need time to pause, pause, and then press play to go through the answers.

Let's have a look at our answers.

So we've got Q and q, q, q.

We've got t, t, t, and T.

b, b, b and B.

And I, I, I and i.

So those are our matching capital and lowercase letters.

I wonder if you could do your own capital and lowercase letters at home and work with your Teddy talk partner to match them up.

Now that we've looked at our capital and lowercase letters, we're going to understand when do we need to use a capital letter? Now, we all know a capital letter is used at the start of a sentence, but we also need to use a capital letter for the names of a person and a place.

And I have got a little song to help us remember.

And it goes like this.

♪ When do we use a capital letter ♪ ♪ When do we use a capital letter ♪ ♪ When do we use a capital letter ♪ ♪ For the name of a person or place ♪ Do you think you can join me at home? Because it helps us remember.

You ready, Oscar? ♪ When do we use a capital letter ♪ ♪ When do we use a capital letter ♪ ♪ When do we use a capital letter ♪ ♪ For the name of a person or place ♪ Because the name of a person and a place is important, and we call them proper nouns, because they are important nouns.

Now remember, a noun is a name of a person, a place, or an object, but the person and the place are proper nouns so they need a capital letter.

So for example, Oscar, your name Oscar would need to start with an O because that's your name.

But the word owl wouldn't need to start with a capital letter because that just tells me what type of animal you are.

My name is Miss Toole.

So Miss and Toole would start with a capital letter, because that's my name.

But teacher, a person, they don't need a capital letter, because that's just telling me what I am.

And in terms of place, places that you live or our country need capital letters because they are important.

So we have London or England or Spain.

They all need capital letters, but also places within those countries.

So if you've got an important building, for example Buckingham Palace, that would need a capital letter because that is the name of where the Queen lives.

And the Queen would need a capital letter, because that is her name and she is important.

So I have got a little bit of a game to help us decide whether we need to use a capital letter or a lowercase letter, 'cause, remember, ♪ When do we use capital letters ♪ ♪ When do we use capital letters ♪ ♪ When do we use capital letters ♪ ♪ For the name of a person or place ♪ Perfect, well remembered, Oscar.

So let's have a look at our game.

For our game, I'm going to say a word.

And I want you to think, is it a proper noun? Now remember, proper nouns are the names of a person or a place.

So you've got to think, is it the name of a person or place? And if it is, I want you to shout at the screen, capital.

And if it isn't, I want you to shout at the screen, lowercase, because we don't need to use a capital letter.

So are we ready? Are you ready, Oscar? 'Cause you need to have a go too.

So the first word that I am going to say is horse.

Have a think.

Would the word horse need a capital letter? What do you think, Oscar? Oscar's shouting, "Lowercase!" Let's have a look at the word.

You're right, Oscar, it's lowercase, because it's not the name of a person and it's not the name of a place.

It's just the name of an object, it's the name of an animal.

A horse, it just has a lowercase h at the beginning.

Well done.

The next word is from our story, "How the Butterflies Came to Be." And it's the word creator.

Hm, think about it.

Creator.

Is that a person or a place in our story? What do you think, Oscar? Oh, Oscar is shouting, "Capital!" Because it's the name of our character.

Let's have a look.

You're right, Oscar.

Creator has got a capital at the beginning, because it's the name of our main character.

The Creator is a person, and that's their name, so they've got a capital C at the beginning.

Are you ready for the next one? The next word is flowers, flowers.

Hm, is it the name of a person or place? Or does it need a lowercase, because it's just the name of an object? Flowers, what do you think? Shout at home.

It's just the name of an object, so it's lowercase, lowercase.

Super.

Next word is London, London.

Have a think, is that the name of a person or a place? London, what do you think? London.

Ooh, Oscar's not sure about this one.

He thinks it sounds like a place, but he's never heard of it before.

Well, Oscar, it is the name of a place.

So it needs a capital L.

It's an L at the beginning.

And it's a place in England.

It's where the Queen lives, London.

So it needs a capital letter because it's a name of a place.

Think about where you live and say that name of that place out loud, 'cause that would also need a capital letter.

Ooh, next word.

Table, table.

Have a think, is that a name of a person, a place, or is that the name of an object? Table.

You're right, Oscar.

It's a name of an object.

So it just needs a lowercase t, t, t, table.

Super.

And our final word is the word Lucy.

Lucy, hmm.

Is that an object? Or is it the name of a person or a place? Lucy.

Oscar's shouting, "Capital!" And you're right, Oscar.

It's a name of somebody.

Lucy is a name.

Well done, Oscar.

I think you're really understanding now the difference between an object and a person or a place and knowing our proper nouns that need those capital letters.

So well done, Oscar.

Now that we've identified some of the words that need capital letters.

So remember, it's a person and a place, because they are what type of noun? Proper noun.

I have got a challenge for you.

I have used our story of "How Butterflies Came to Be" and changed it just a little bit to add in some more proper nouns.

We are going to read it together.

And then what I'd like you to do is pause the screen and have a go at finding the words that should have a capital letter, because ♪ Which words need a capital letter ♪ ♪ When do we use a capital letter ♪ ♪ When do we use a capital letter ♪ ♪ For the name of a person or place ♪ So you need to find the names of people or places that don't have a capital letter and point to them, and then we'll go through the answers.

So are you ready? You ready, Oscar? In the beginning, the creator decided to create beauty.

He created birds, bees, fish, fowls, and a little boy named Tom.

Tom lived in a village called Treganda.

Right, pause now and see if you can find the words that should have a capital letter because they are the name of a person or a place but they haven't.

Off you go.

Now that you've had a go at looking for the word, we're going to go through together.

So, Oscar, I'm going to have a read of it now.

And if you spot a word that should have a capital letter and that hasn't, you need to shout out.

I'd like you to do the same at home, okay? In the beginning, the creator, oop! Oh, creator, is that the name of the person, Oscar? Let's have a look.

You're right, Creator, it needs a capital letter because that's the name of the person.

Well done, Oscar.

Right, grab your Teddy talking partner, and let's see if we can find one of the others.

In the beginning, the Creator decided to create beauty.

He created birds, bees, fish, fowls, and a little boy named Tom, op.

Oh, oh, Oscar's telling me that Tom is the name of the boy, so that Tom should have a capital letter.

Let's have a look.

Well done, Oscar.

Did you find that one at home? And look, the next word is also the word Tom, so that should have another capital letter.

Great work, Oscar.

Tom lived in a village called Treganda.

That's the end.

Oh, Oscar's saying that the Treganda is the name of the village, so that needs a capital letter.

What do you think at home? Is it the name of a person or a place? It is, so that should also have the capital letter.

Well spotted, Oscar.

Did you manage to find them all at home as well with your Teddy talk partner? Great work, well done for having a go.

I wonder, now that you've learned when we need to use a capital letter, could you have a go at writing your own sentences including proper nouns? And to finish off today, we have got our next part of our song.

So the first part says ♪ When do we need a capital letter ♪ ♪ When do we need a capital letter ♪ And now we're going to change it to ♪ Proper nouns need a capital letter ♪ ♪ Proper nouns need a capital letter ♪ ♪ Proper nouns need a capital letter ♪ ♪ It's the name of a person or place ♪ Do you think you can sing it with me? I'll go then you go.

We ready? ♪ Proper nouns need a capital letter ♪ ♪ Proper nouns need a capital letter ♪ ♪ Proper nouns need a capital letter ♪ ♪ Proper nouns need a capital letter ♪ ♪ Proper nouns need a capital letter ♪ ♪ Proper nouns need a capital letter ♪ ♪ It's the name of a person or place ♪ ♪ It's the name of a person or place ♪ So whenever you are writing, think about our song.

And, if you are including the name of a person or a place, you need to make sure you are starting that word with a capital letter.

Try our challenge of writing your own sentences.

And I will see you in the next part of this unit.

See you later.