Sentence Basics: Capital Letters and Full Stops

Step-by-step Mini Lesson

1. Explain (1–2 mins): Show that every sentence needs a capital at the start and the right end mark: full stop, question mark, or exclamation mark.
2. Model (2–3 mins): Write three sentences aloud, saying the capital and the end sound: "We play football." (.) "Do you like apples?" (?) "Watch out!" (!).
3. Guided practice (5 mins): Give children short phrases (e.g. "the cat sat on the mat") and ask them to convert them into full sentences with capitals and end punctuation.
4. Independent practice (10 mins): Ask pupils to write 5 short sentences about their morning using capitals and correct end punctuation. Swap with a partner to check.
5. Plenary (2–3 mins): Share one good example and one common mistake to improve together.

Examples

Look at these examples together. Read them aloud and spot the capital and end mark.

• My dog loves to swim. (Statement — full stop)
• Where did you put my hat? (Question — question mark)
• That was an amazing goal! (Strong feeling — exclamation mark)

Scaffolded practice:

1. Give children a short phrase and ask them to add a capital and a suitable end mark: e.g. "the bird flew" → "The bird flew."
2. Change the sentence type: Turn a statement into a question: "It is raining." → "Is it raining?"

What is a Sentence?

A sentence is a complete thought. It has a subject (who/what) and a verb (doing/being). It makes sense on its own and ends with a punctuation mark.

Capital Letters

Capitals show us where a sentence begins and which words are special. Teach children to look at the start of the sentence and to name any people, places or special words that need a capital.

When to use capitals

• At the start of every sentence: The cat slept.
• For names of people and pets: Aisha, Mr Brown,Charlie
• For places and proper nouns: London, River Thames
• Days and months: Monday, July
• The pronoun I when it stands alone: I went to school.
• Titles and headings: The Lost Toy, My Diary

Examples and quick checks

Common mistakes

• Forgetting to capitalise the first word after a full stop.
• Using capitals in the middle of ordinary words: the Dog (wrong).
• Not capitalising I when it is used alone.

Practice (scaffolded)

1. Support: Provide short phrases and ask pupils to add a capital and a full stop. E.g. "my mum cooks" → "My mum cooks."
2. Independent: Give a 3-line diary starter and ask pupils to write three sentences about their day, checking capitals and the pronoun I.
3. Extension: Rewrite a short paragraph, adding capitals for all proper nouns and checking sentence starts.

Fix the Sentence

Add capitals and the correct end punctuation.

Independent Challenge

Write five sentences about a favourite toy or game. Try to use a question and an exclamation sentence among them. Swap with a partner to check capitals and end marks.