Kindergarten Capitalization: First Words and 'I'

Hmm, what is this? It looks like Pip found Koko's sketchbook! As he flips through the pages, he decides to write a sentence about each drawing. But he can't seem to remember which letters need to be capitalized in the sentences. Let's help Pip by learning about "Kindergarten Capitalization: First Words and I". You might already know that all the letters in the alphabet come in two sizes: big and little. The big letters are called uppercase letters. They can also be called capital letters, but it means the same thing. When we write a letter in this uppercase, or bigger form, it is called capitalization. The English language has many rules about when to capitalize letters. But, we learn about two capitalization rules in kindergarten. Here is the first rule: We capitalize the first letter of the first word in a sentence. So in the sentence, 'My pencil can draw' we capitalize the letter M in the first word 'my'! Here is the second rule: We capitalize the word 'I' when we use it to write about ourselves. The word 'I' is capitalized wherever it falls in a sentence! Let's look at some examples! Here, we capitalize 'I' in the beginning of the sentence: I like art. We capitalize 'I' in the middle of this sentence: Koko and I have brushes! And we capitalize 'I' at the end of this one: Who am I? Now that Pip knows the first two capitalization rules, we can help him fix his sentences about Koko's sketches. Which letter do we need to capitalize in this sentence? This is a duck. We need to capitalize the letter T because it is the first letter in the first word of Pip's sentence. Which letter do we need to capitalize in this sentence? I like this squirrel. We need to capitalize the word ‘I’ because it is the first word and letter in the sentence, and it's the word Pip is using to write about himself! While Pip fixes his sentences and looks for Koko, let's remember! Today we learned about the two kindergarten capitalization rules. Rule one: We capitalize the first letter of the first word in a sentence. Rule two: We capitalize the word I when we use it to write about ourselves. "Hey, Koko! Look what I did!" "Silly, Pip! You're holding it wrong! That is a bunny, and that is a horse!”