Common and Proper Noun Lesson Ideas for Kids

I used to dread teaching my students to identify common and proper nouns. My district’s basal program included a required grammar workbook. Y’all, the material was so repetitive I could barely stand teaching the daily lessons.

I want my students to love learning, and no one was loving the drill-the-skill style workbooks.

Worse yet, my students weren’t engaged. They could easily complete the workbook pages, but they struggled to identify which nouns to capitalize in their writing.

There had to be a better way. So, I started moving beyond our workbook, and I’m so glad I did. Our grammar lessons went from being something we all dreaded to being a part of the day my kids looked forward to.

If you’re dreading your grammar lessons, hopefully, you’ll find some inspiration in this post. Let’s talk about how to teach grammar, specifically common and proper nouns, in a way that will excite your little learners.

What are common and proper nouns?

Even when we know what something is, it can be hard to explain it. So, let’s start with an easy definition.

• Common nouns are people, places, things, or ideas without a specific name. Common nouns start with lowercase letters.
• Proper nouns name specific people, places, things, or ideas. Proper nouns start with capital letters.

What are some fun activities to teach common and proper nouns?

Presenting material in more than one way makes it more likely that all of your students will grasp it. Students need more than one opportunity to practice new concepts. Using a variety of activities will keep it from getting boring. Here are some fun activities to teach common and proper nouns.

Flipbooks

One way to help students understand common and proper nouns is to brainstorm and sort examples of each. Let the class work together to brainstorm a list of nouns. Then students can sort them into common nouns and proper nouns.

Interactive Worksheets

Worksheets provide lots of opportunities for targeted practice. They can also be an easy way to take a grade or collect a work sample.

Coloring by the parts of speech, using a spinner, finding nouns in the environment, and sorting words provide a variety of activities.

Partner Games

Kids love to play with their friends. Partner games are a great way to combine play and learning.

• Spin and Cover – This partner activity lets kids identify nouns as either common or proper.
• Boardgame – This familiar format makes it fun and easy to practice many different skills. This particular version extends their practice from isolated words to words in sentences.
• Tic Tac Toe – Replace the traditional X and O in this game with common and proper nouns. Using two colors, one student can write common nouns while the other writes proper nouns.

Roam the Room

Sitting in one place for too long is hard for kids. Kids need movement. Write the room activities let kids continue their learning while getting out their wiggles.

Craft and Writing Activity

Craftivity (craft + activity) projects make great bulletin board displays. Many kids take more ownership of their work when they know it will be on display. This craftivity lets kids demonstrate their knowledge of common and proper nouns.

How can I assess my students’ learning?

There are many ways to assess student learning. You can use a worksheet as a work sample, observe students playing a game, or plan a specific activity as an assessment.

Assessments

• Stand Up – Sit Down: For this informal assessment activity, you call out nouns. Students stand up when you say a proper noun and sit down when you say a common noun. A quick glance around the room can help give you a quick idea of whether your class is catching on.
• Personal Whiteboards: You can have your class write CN or PN on their boards as you call out a noun. Once everyone has written an answer, they can hold the board up so you can quickly check it. Alternatively, you can ask students to write examples of common nouns or proper nouns on the whiteboards.
• Common and Proper Noun Quiz: If you need a graded assessment, a short quiz can work for a formal assessment. A short quiz can also serve as a pretest.

How can I teach about common and proper nouns in a distance learning setting?

Right now, many schools are starting back in a virtual environment. Distance learning poses a unique set of challenges. Some activities that might work well in a distance learning environment include:

• Introduce common and proper nouns via a video conferencing platform by leading your class through a stand-up – sit-down activity.
• Send home interactive worksheets.
• Send home a parent letter and ask them to help their child identify examples of nouns at home. You could also ask them to write the examples in a flipbook.
• Post a digital word sort online or send home a printed version if you have students without internet access.

Whether you’ll be teaching 100% virtually, in a hybrid situation, or in the classroom this year, digital materials can provide flexibility. Get a free digital noun sort activity.  

Where can I find the common and proper noun activities used in this post?

“This resource has it all! Love the various activities and the cute little posters. It’s so nice to have finally found a resource that is actually keeping my kids interested while we review these concepts over summer break. Thank you for this!”

The complete set of printables shown in this post can be found in my store on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Do you need more resources for teaching grammar?

• Check out these tips for teaching your students the capitalization and spelling rules for nouns.
• Get your class excited about learning adjectives with these fun ideas.
• Use art and poetry to explore adjectives with your class.