Common vs. Proper Nouns

Common vs. Proper Nouns

Introduction:

In the beginning, I always teach them to focus on two things: 

1) A proper noun is the NAME of something.  For example, if you asked "What's it called?"  or "What's its name?" and the answer is simply "dog", then it must be a common noun.  If, however, the answer is "Spot", then it's a proper noun.  Another example is "What's the name of your school?"  You wouldn't answer that question by saying just "school" with a lower case letter, because that's a COMMON noun.  You're answer would be, for example "J. C. Magill Elementary School" or "Woodland Charter Elementary School", because that's what your school is called.

2) I focus on the image that "proper" still conjures up in my head: a prim, PROPER person with really good posture.  Therefore, someone (or something) that is PROPER would stand up tall, and need a tall (capital) letter to start it off.

Both concepts need to be reiterated and reinforced often, to make sure students really understand the difference between a common and a proper noun.

Practice/reinforcement:

To practice differentiating between common and proper nouns, play a game.  Have them STAND UP when saying proper nouns (capitalization), and sit or squat for common nouns (lowercase letters), to make it a more active lesson.