South Dakota ELA 1.L.2.a

ELA1st GradeLanguage

The Standard

1.L.2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

Capitalize the first word in a sentence, the pronoun I, dates, and names of people.

South Dakota English Language Arts Standards (2025)

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students use a capital letter to begin a sentence and whenever they write 'I.' They also capitalize people's names and the month and day names in dates.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student writes 'We saw Eli on Tuesday, June 3' with capitals in the right places. They can find and fix a lowercase 'i' in the middle of a sentence.
Common Misconceptions: Some students capitalize every word in a sentence. Others leave 'i,' people's names, or month and day names lowercase when those words appear in the middle.
How to Assess It: Give students this exit ticket: 'on monday, may 4, i saw mia.' Ask them to rewrite it with the needed capitals.

Lesson moves

Have pairs use capital letter tiles to fix the strip 'on monday, i saw ben.'
Ask students to write why 'I' needs a capital in 'On Monday, I saw Ben.'
Play capital detective: students use mini whiteboards to fix 'we saw ava on friday, and i waved.'
Have students write a birthday invitation for Mia dated Saturday, May 8, then check its capitals.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 1.L.2.a, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.

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