Kindergarten - ELA
1: Letters
Unit 2: H - Hondo and Fabian
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students practice recognizing and forming an uppercase letter: they look at the book cover and point to the capital H in "Hondo," describe how H looks, and practice the initial /h/ sound. Students practice writing a capital H using air writing, popsicle sticks, and a handwriting sheet with traced and freehand lines, and they add an Hh card to a review file. Students also point to letters in the name "Bingo" while singing, practicing letter recognition and attention to individual letters.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The lesson tells students that "we use the capital letter to begin sentences or give names," and it has students locate the capital H in the name Hondo. Students practice forming both the lowercase h and the uppercase H (Option 2) and trace letter shapes on the handwriting sheet. The sight-word activity has students find and read the word "he" in the book, reinforcing letter recognition at word beginnings.
Unit 3: I - The Little Island
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students practice the uppercase letter I in Activity 2 by using an Ii letter card and practicing sounds associated with I. Students complete an "Uppercase I" handwriting sheet that provides dashed-line tracing and blank lines for independent writing of the uppercase I. Students who are reluctant can trace downward strokes on textured surfaces (carpet, sand, dirt) to practice the basic capital letter formation.
Unit 4: T - What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?
Lesson 5
Day 5
The Writing Workshop asks the child to "write" 1-3 facts and to dictate these facts as the adult writes them in complete sentences under the child's writing. The activity invites the child to attempt writing before dictation, giving an opportunity to produce sentence-like writing. The requirement that dictated facts be written in complete sentences exposes students to sentence-level conventions.
Unit 10: O - Owl Babies
Lesson 2
Day 2
The lesson includes an Uppercase Letter Writing activity where students find the uppercase O on the book cover, practice forming the capital letter O in the air, and complete an "Uppercase O" handwriting sheet tracing and writing the capital O. The lesson also has students dictate to an adult or write facts about owls on an activity page, which gives students an occasion to produce written words or phrases.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students read aloud the line "I want my mommy!" and are asked to point to the words as they read, exposing them to the capitalized pronoun I in context. The teacher also directs students to compare uppercase and lowercase forms of the letter O, noting that the lowercase o is half the height of the uppercase O. These activities provide incidental exposure to capitalization and to distinguishing uppercase vs lowercase letters.
Unit 11: S - Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree
Lesson 2
Day 2
The Uppercase Letter Writing activity explicitly guides students to form the capital letter S with modeled strokes, air writing, and a handwriting sheet that includes traceable and independent practice of uppercase S. The weather report activity directs students to "write words" on the chart (date, sky conditions, wind, temperature), giving students opportunities to produce written words during daily recordings.
Unit 12: D - Dinosaurs Big and Small
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students practice identifying and forming the uppercase letter D by finding it on the book cover and tracing/air-writing the letter while saying its sound. Students complete a handwriting sheet with a model capital D, rows of dashed traceable uppercase D letters, and blank lines for independent uppercase D writing. Option activities reinforce capital-letter formation through guided tracing, drawing a large D, or kinesthetic drumstick movements to form the capital D.
Unit 15: R - Rain
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students practice forming and writing an uppercase R through guided tracing and independent writing (Activity 2 and the Uppercase R handwriting sheet). Students write sentences that begin with the prompt "I see..." and copy/example sentences are provided that start with a capital I (Making a Rainbow Book activity and the Rainbow Sentences student page).
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 3 has students write or dictate sentences about favorite things and gives the example "The red car zoomed across the room.", which displays a capitalized first word. Activity 2 has students practice reading a book aloud using the colors of the type as a guide, which exposes students to printed sentences and conventional capitalization in context. The writing activity asks students to produce full sentences, providing an opportunity to use sentence-initial capitals.
Unit 17: M - Marshmallow
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students are asked to fill in blanks in a short poem and a short story, producing complete lines such as "A cat is a wonderful pet" and "A cat and I would have fun all day," which show sentence-initial capitalization and the pronoun I. The examples printed for students ("A Cat Poem", the example sentences) display capitalized first words and an uppercase I, and students record their own responses in those same sentence frames.
Unit 18: U - Umbrella
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students are asked to find capital letters on page 2 and to determine why each word is capitalized, with text explicitly noting that uppercase letters are used at the beginning of sentences and for people's names. Students are encouraged to notice capital letters that begin sentences and people's names while looking independently at Umbrella. In the Writing Workshop, students are reminded to start their name with a capital letter, practice writing their name several times, and are asked to point out any capital letters they used and explain why they used them (beginning of a sentence or a person's name).
Unit 19: J - Jump Frog Jump
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to find and identify the uppercase letter J on the book cover and told that J makes the /j/ sound. Students practice forming the capital J in the air and on paper using an "Uppercase J" handwriting sheet with solid and dotted examples and rows for tracing and independent writing. Students also practice making a capital J with a die-cut and by gluing jewels in the shape of a J, reinforcing letter-shape and capital-letter formation.
Unit 20: K - Kindness
Lesson 2
Day 2
Activity 2 directs students to find the uppercase K in the title "Kindness Mouse" and to practice forming the capital letter K in the air. Students complete a handwriting sheet with tracing and freehand lines for the uppercase K, and an alternate activity has them form a capital K with pipe cleaners and trace it. These activities give students repeated practice recognizing and producing an uppercase letter.
Lesson 4
Day 4
The lesson directs the adult to write the heading "I Am a Good Citizen!" at the top of the butcher paper and to make a list underneath as the child dictates, with suggested list items beginning with "I" (for example, "I take care of my pet"). Students are asked to contribute 4–6 ideas and may add illustrations to the list. The dictated sentences and heading provide visible examples of the pronoun I and a sentence-initial capital.
Unit 21: V - Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students write in a journal during Writing Workshop and then read their writing aloud, during which an adult may "notice appropriate capitalization" and punctuation at sentence ends. During Reading Workshop, students read pages of Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin and encounter capitalized words at the start of lines and sentences (for example, "With" and "Itself"), exposing them to sentence-initial capitalization.
Unit 22: Y - Little Blue and Little Yellow
Lesson 1
Day 1
The teacher note explains that character names are capitalized in this unit to differentiate them from color names, and the text of the read-aloud and comprehension questions consistently shows capitalized character names (e.g., "Little Blue", "Little Yellow"). Students are asked to look at and read sentences from the book (for example, "In school they sit in neat rows."), so they are exposed to sentences that begin with a capital letter. The unit foregrounds capitalization choices in the text by pointing out nonstandard capitalization in the original book.
Unit 23: W - George Washington's Birthday
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students practice forming and writing the uppercase letter W by tracing and freehand practice on the 'Uppercase W' handwriting sheet and by forming a W with twigs. Students locate the uppercase W on the book cover and add a W card to a review file. Students read and glue labels that show capitalized proper nouns (e.g., "Statue of Liberty," "United States Flag," "Bald Eagle") and identify days of the week by name.
Unit 25: X - An Extraordinary Egg
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students read the sentence "Look what I found!" and are asked to point to and read the word "look." The sentence as shown includes a capitalized first word (Look) and the pronoun I, so students encounter both forms in context. Students also see and read the sight word "look" on its own and in a sentence, providing incidental exposure to initial-word capitalization and the capital I.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 2 has students look at spoken lines such as "Look what I found!" and the page that begins "I wonder..." and asks the child to identify the quotation marks and read the words Jessica spoke. Activity 3 has students draw their egg and write or dictate a creative story, providing an opportunity to produce sentences that could include initial capitalization and the pronoun I. These parts expose students to sentences that contain a capitalized first word and the pronoun I.
Unit 26: Z - Greedy Zebra
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students are asked to write words, phrases, or sentences about their favorite book in their journal and then read their writing aloud. Students are prompted to identify one thing they like about their writing and are offered one idea for improvement, with an explicit example: "a word at the beginning of the sentence to capitalize." Students also review journal entries from the year and notice growth in their writing.
2: Holidays
Unit 27: Halloween
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to trace the pre-written words "Boo!" on the front of the card and "Happy Halloween!" on the inside cover, which present initial capital letters. The greeting/card activity has students glue a piece of paper and "draw a picture or write a message to a friend or family member," and the provided image shows examples like "Dear Grandma and Papa," and "Love, Jack," which demonstrate initial capitalization in salutations and names.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In the Writing Workshop, students are given a model sentence, "Good night _____________ and good night, _________________," which shows a capitalized first word (Good). Students may have the teacher write the rhyming sentence for them or copy words from scrap paper into the blanks, giving them exposure to a sentence that begins with a capital letter.
Unit 30: February Celebrations
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked to write (or trace) a title such as "Molly Has a Dream!", which presents a capitalized first word in a sentence/title. Students are asked to dictate or write example sentences like "I have a dream that all children would have plenty of food to eat" and "I have a dream that every grown-up would have a good job," which use the pronoun I and show it capitalized. Several example sentences throughout the activities begin with capital letters, giving students models of initial capitalization and a capitalized I.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students are asked to make the message "I love you" on the front of the valentine, which contains the pronoun I capitalized. Students are instructed to write TO: _______________ and LOVE, _______________ and to write the recipient's name as well as their own name. Students are prompted to dictate a letter to the President while an adult records it and to help address and mail the letter, involving writing names and addresses.
1: Environment
Unit 1: Habitats and Homes
Lesson 6
Exploring Animal Habitats
The writing template on the "A Day in the ______" page includes sentence prompts that use the capitalized pronoun I ("I am a ______." and "One day I ______."). Students are asked to dictate and write a short narrative and to read it back, which requires producing those sentence-level examples. The activity asks students to fill in titled sheets (e.g., "The ___________: An Animal Habitat") and to write or copy words on handwriting pages, providing places where sentence writing occurs.
Lesson 7
Tools in My Environment
Students practice the letter I (uppercase and lowercase) and the words "it" and "inch" during the Handwriting activity. The handwriting page displays large examples of I and i and provides lined sections for students to form and copy the letter. The Measuring Tools activity asks students to write or copy the names of tools and to copy letters, giving opportunities to practice letter formation including I.
Lesson 10
Amazing Animals
Students read aloud and listen to sentences in the role-play situations (e.g., quoted lines like "I am a little starfish...") that include the pronoun I and sentences beginning with a capital letter. Students read informational text on the Student Activity Pages and math question prompts that are written with standard sentence-initial capitalization. Students engage in oral responses and read-aloud activities that expose them to correctly capitalized sentences and the capital I.
Unit 2: Weather
Lesson 4
Simulating Weather
The Weather Song activity asks students to find all of the capital letters in the song and gives the hint that they are found at the beginning of each line. The activity also asks students to read the words aloud and follow along by pointing to each word, and the skills list includes recognizing that written words are separated by spaces and knowing the difference between individual letters and printed words.
Lesson 8
Summer
Students complete the 'Changes in Weather' page by writing season names into sentence-initial blanks (e.g., '_________ is the warmest season.'), which requires entering a word at the beginning of a sentence. Students also fill blanks in the 'A Summer Story' passages and may copy words into blanks or write initial letters, giving practice inserting words into sentence contexts.
Final Project
Weather Games
Students are asked to prepare and give a three-day weather forecast using a written "Weather Forecast" page, which involves recording answers and composing a short forecast. The example forecast text provided contains sentences that begin with capital letters and uses the pronoun "I" capitalized. In Activity 1 students write the name of the season above pictures, giving them some practice with writing word-initial capitalization.
Unit 3: Community
Lesson 1
On the Town
Students trace and write capital and lowercase P (Activity 4), including the capitalized words 'People' and 'Park'. Several provided sentences (Activity 2 and Student Activity Pages) begin with a capitalized first word and include the pronoun 'I' in contexts such as 'I played with my friend...' and 'I put ______ in my cart...'. Activity 3 asks students to write or dictate a sentence or two about Charlie visiting a place, which requires composing sentences.
Lesson 8
Rules and Laws
Students are asked to record ideas as sentences on six strips and to read each sentence aloud (Activity 1), which involves working with sentence-level text. Students are asked to write numbers on sentence strips and to put rules in order, and are encouraged to make a list of 3–5 rules for the house (Activity 3), requiring them to produce written sentences. The Student Activity Page presents full sentences for sorting (e.g., "Don't take things that aren't yours."), giving students exposure to sentence forms and print.
Final Project
I Can Make A Difference
The student activity page provides sentence starters that model initial capitalization, e.g., "I am planning to __." and numbered prompts beginning with capitalized words such as "The first thing I will do is __." The Reflection section also uses starters with a capitalized pronoun I: "I helped __ with __. The thing I enjoyed the most was __. I felt __ when doing this project." Students are instructed to write out steps and reflections using these sentence frames and to write about their experience at the bottom of the plan sheet.
2: Similarities and Differences
Unit 1: Amazing Attributes
Lesson 5
How Old?
The text explicitly tells students that a sentence that is a question starts with a capital letter and asks them to practice writing question marks. It instructs students to start those sentences with a capital letter and to record names, reminding them that names begin with capital letters. The handwriting activity asks students to practice uppercase 'O' and the words 'old' and 'order', supporting uppercase letter formation.
Unit 2: Senses
Lesson 1
My Five Senses
Students are asked to identify the beginning letters of each sentence in the book, with specific mention that the beginning letters are mostly the word "I." Activity 4 asks students to write or copy a sentence about a sense with the provided example "I smell with my nose." Activity 3 (Option 2) has students dictate four complete sentences, the teacher records them, and reads each sentence back to discuss sentence parts.
Lesson 8
Writing About Our Senses
Students encounter multiple model sentences that begin with a capitalized first word (e.g., the fill-in-the-blank lines: "My popcorn felt _______...", "My popcorn sounded _______"). The example responses in "Sensing My Day" use the pronoun I capitalized (e.g., "I saw red, yellow, and orange leaves."). Activity 4 asks students to write or copy a sentence about the popcorn on handwriting paper, giving them an opportunity to produce sentence-initial capitalization and possibly the pronoun I in their own writing.
Unit 3: We're the Same, We're Different
Lesson 1
You're Special
Activity 2 asks students to write a sentence with a number and gives the example sentence "I am six years old," which shows the pronoun I capitalized. Activity 1 has students complete a paragraph by filling in blanks and reading their story aloud, providing opportunities to produce sentence-initial words. Activity 4 includes tracing uppercase U and the word "unique," indicating practice with at least one capital letter form.
Lesson 2
Physical Characteristics
In Activity 4 students are asked to write a sentence on handwriting paper that begins with the provided model: "I have ________.", which presents the capitalized pronoun I at the start of a sentence. Activity 3 asks students to dictate and record one sentence for the beginning, middle, and end of a story, creating opportunities for students to produce written sentences.
Lesson 9
Different Modes of Transportation
Students are asked in the Handwriting activity to write or copy the sentence "I have ______ in/on a _________." That model sentence begins with the pronoun I and shows the pronoun capitalized. Activity 3 asks students to tell a story that is recorded and read aloud, giving students an opportunity to produce sentences they may copy or attempt to read.
Final Project
Differences Make the World Go 'Round
The lesson provides multiple modeled sentences that begin with a capital letter and use the pronoun I, e.g., "I live in America. Jung Wei lives in China." Student activity pages include sentence frames such as "I like to eat _______ from _______," "I live in _______," and "My hobby is _______," which require students to write complete sentences beginning with I or another word. The project instructs students to "write the sentences herself," encouraging sentence-level composition throughout the book project.
3: Patterns
Unit 1: Identifying and Creating Visual Patterns
Lesson 1
What Is a Pattern?
Students are asked to write or copy three sentences on handwriting paper using the sentence starters: "First, there is _____ . Next there is _____ . Then there is _____ ." This activity requires students to produce full sentences and models a capitalized first word at the start of each sentence. Students are also asked to identify and read the title and author's name of the story, which exposes them to capitalized words in printed text.
Lesson 3
What Comes Next?
Activity 4 asks students to write or copy the question "What do you see after the ________?", giving an example sentence that begins with a capitalized first word. The activity also asks students to review that sentences that ask questions end in question marks, so students practice sentence-level writing and punctuation. The lesson provides an explicit model sentence that demonstrates a capitalized initial word.
Lesson 6
Shapes and Patterns
Students are instructed to write or copy a sentence on handwriting paper about a pattern they found (Activity 3: Handwriting), providing practice composing sentences. Students are asked to practice writing specific words (shape, color, size) with the teacher modeling each word (Words to Practice). The lesson provides multiple handwriting opportunities (writing sentences and words) that involve letter formation and composing text.
Final Project
Patterns Poster or Patterns Presentation
The Script for Presentation pages include full-sentence prompts such as "The third pattern I will show is a ________________." and other numbered sentence stems that begin with a capital letter and contain the pronoun I. Students are asked to write descriptions on provided lines (for example, space preceded by the word "colors" and blanks for each numbered pattern), so they will produce or complete sentences that model initial capitalization and a capitalized I.
Unit 2: Patterns in Sounds, Words, and Actions
Lesson 4
Sentence Patterns
The Facts and Definitions and Introduction explicitly state that sentences begin with a capital letter and usually end with a period. Activity 4 asks students to identify sentences in picture books and to "point to the beginning letters and the periods in a few sentences." Several activities ask students to write or copy simple sentences on handwriting paper (Activity 6, Activity 4) which gives practice with sentence beginnings.
Lesson 6
Sound Patterns
Activity 4 asks the child to write about a sound pattern on handwriting paper and gives an example sentence: "I heard a pattern that went...", showing the pronoun I capitalized and an initial capital at the start of the sentence. The Student Activity Page provides spaces labeled "Pattern" for students to write and includes capitalized labels "Slap, Clap, Tap," which model initial capitals for words. The activities require students to produce written sentences or recordings of patterns.
Unit 3: Patterns in Your World
Lesson 9
Counting Patterns
Students are asked to write or dictate and then copy a sentence on handwriting paper about the clowns in the car. They are explicitly told to reinforce that a sentence "begins with a capital letter" and ends with a period. Students are also asked to identify the subject and verb in their sentences, supporting attention to sentence-level conventions.
Lesson 11
Patterns in Graphs
Students are asked in Activity 4 to write a sentence on handwriting paper describing whether an object was able to sink or float, giving them an opportunity to produce written sentences. Students are asked elsewhere to read titles and labels aloud (Activity 1) and to circle titles and labels on graphs and charts, exposing them to written sentence/label forms.
4: Change
Unit 1: Changes on Planet Earth
Lesson 1
What Causes Change?
Students are asked to complete sentence frames on the "Write About a Change" page that begin with capitalized words (e.g., "Once I saw __________ change."). The provided sentence starters include the capitalized pronoun "I" and a capitalized first word, which students will copy or complete. Students are also asked to attempt to read their completed paragraph aloud, reinforcing the printed capitalization in their writing.
Unit 2: Characters Change
Lesson 1
What's in a Name
Students are presented with the explicit rule "Names always begin with capital letters" and a skills item listing "Capitalize dates and names of people." In Activity 1 students rewrite sentences with lowercase names (e.g., "chrysanthemum loved her name.") to correct the capitalization and complete prompts such as "My name is" and "I wish my name were," which include the pronoun I.
Lesson 5
The Raft
Activity 1 asks students to select two sentences containing the word "I," copy those sentences on blank paper, and underline the word "I" whenever it occurs, so students locate and reproduce sentences that include the pronoun I. The vocabulary and reading sentences shown on the student pages include sentences that begin with "I" (e.g., "I don't like cornbread, I mumbled."), giving students examples of sentences that use the pronoun I and that begin with a capitalized first word.
Unit 3: A First Look at History - Change Over Time
Lesson 2
Understanding Time
Students are given sentence starters on the Student Activity Page titled "Yesterday I", "Today I", and "Tomorrow I will," which display a capitalized first word and a capitalized pronoun I. Students are asked to "complete the sentence about somethings she did yesterday" and to record dates, so they will write sentences using those starters. The headings and prompts repeatedly model the capitalized pronoun I and capitalized sentence starters in student-facing text.
Lesson 6
Predicting Future Change
Students are asked to write or copy a sentence on handwriting paper about a change in their life (Activity 4). Students are asked to record sentences describing one positive change and one negative change (Activity 2) and to write responses on the "What Will Happen?" pages (Activity 1). The student pages include modeled sentences and prompts that begin with capital letters and use the pronoun "I" (for example, the fill-in-the-blank prompts: "One way I have changed is ___", "I changed because ___").
Final Project
My Past, Present and Future
Multiple student prompts require students to write full sentences (for example: "In the past __________" and "Today __________" in Option 2) and the activity pages include sentence stems with the pronoun I (for example: "I was different because," "In the past I did"). Students are asked to write responses on pages titled "Picture of Me," "My Family," "My Home," and "What I Do," which present opportunities to produce sentence-initial words and the pronoun I. The instructions note that an adult can "help her when she writes the sentences," implying students will produce written sentences using provided stems.
6: Reading
Unit 1: Semester 1
Lesson 5
Adding s, More Word Families, Ending with ck
Activity 1.1 has students point to the first word in each sentence, explains that all sentences begin with an uppercase letter, and has them underline the uppercase letters at the start of each sentence. Activity 1.2 has students place uppercase letters below lowercase partners, practice spelling names, and explicitly instructs them to begin each name with an uppercase letter. Activity 5.3 (Sentence Dictation) reminds students that sentences begin with uppercase letters and has students write sentences that start with uppercase letters.
Lesson 6
Open Syllables and Digraph th
Students are asked to identify the uppercase first letter of sentences (Activity 5.1: "What kind of letter does every sentence begin with?") and are reminded that "sentences begin with uppercase letters" during sentence dictation (Activity 5.3). The sight word I is explicitly introduced and practiced (Activities 1.3 and 3.1), and students write the single-letter sight word I on student activity pages and in word-writing practice.
Lesson 7
Consonant Digraphs ch, sh, wh, ph
Activity 5.3 (Sentence Dictation) instructs the child to be reminded that sentences begin with uppercase letters and to write dictated sentences, one of which is "I chat with a fox in a hut." Activity 3.1 lists the word "I" among other pronoun/word examples, and the skills list includes "Recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet." These items show students practice writing sentences and encounter the capitalized pronoun I in dictated text.
Lesson 9
Blends with l
Students are explicitly reminded that sentences must start with an uppercase letter (Activity 5.1). The lesson provides duplicate sentence-start cards in both uppercase and lowercase (The, This, this, A, etc.) and asks students to recall that sentences begin with an uppercase letter. Dictation and sentence-creation activities (Activity 5.2 and Making Sentences) require students to write sentences and to "think about how sentences begin and end."
Lesson 10
Blends with r
Students complete a sentence-dictation activity (Activity 5.3) in which they write sentences such as "I have one trick." and "They can run on a track." and are reminded to "think about how sentences begin and end." The skills list explicitly includes "Recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence" and "Recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet," which supports student work with capitalization and letter forms.
Lesson 12
Double ll, ss, ff, zz (FLOSS)
Students are asked to write the sentence "The bugs buzz." and are explicitly reminded to begin the sentence with an uppercase letter and end it with a period (Activity 4.1). Activity 1.1 has students circle end marks for each sentence and identify them, and the skills list includes recognizing distinguishing features of a sentence and naming upper- and lowercase letters. Activity 5.2 (Sentence Dictation) tells students to think about how sentences begin and end and to read the sentences when finished, reinforcing sentence-initial capitalization.
Lesson 13
Glued Sounds ng and nk
Students are reminded that words that begin with an uppercase letter should come at the beginning of a sentence in Activity 5.2, and they use Making Sentences cards (including the capitalized We and proper nouns such as Hank) to form sentences. In Activity 5.3 students write sentences from dictation and are prompted to think about how sentences begin and end, requiring them to start sentences with capital letters.
Lesson 15
More Ending Blends
Students are asked in Activity 5.1 to write dictated sentences and to "pay attention to how sentences begin and end." The skills list includes "Recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence." The model sentences provided for dictation ("An elk slept on the bed." "Each kid can swim." "The rafts drift on the pond.") begin with capitalized first words, which students copy when writing.
Lesson 16
R-Controlled Vowels (ar)
The Skills list includes "Recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet," which has students practice letter case. On Day 2 the teacher asks, "Why does Jack begin with an uppercase letter?" prompting students to identify capitalization of a proper name. On Day 5 sentence dictation students are reminded to "pay attention to how sentences begin and end," and they write dictated sentences, giving practice with sentence conventions.
Lesson 17
Semester Review
The lesson explicitly lists "Beginning sentences with capital letters" among the review skills. In Activity 3.2 (Sentence Dictation) students are asked to write sentences as they are read and are reminded to "pay attention to how sentences begin and end." The dictated sentences include one with the pronoun I: "I can spell a lot of words," which students will write and read.
Unit 2: Semester 2
Lesson 1
Long Vowels a and i with Silent e
Students write dictated sentences in Activity 5.2 and are reminded to "pay attention to how sentences begin and end," which prompts awareness of sentence starts. Students read and compare model sentences that include a capitalized pronoun "I" (for example, "I like the red shirt.") when discussing the word "like" in Activity 3.3. Students also engage in handwritten sentence practice and read their sentences aloud after writing, giving opportunities to encounter initial capitals in context.
Lesson 2
Long Vowels o, u, and e with Silent e
Students are asked in Activity 1.1 to identify why "Tim" is spelled with an uppercase letter, which prompts attention to capitalization of a proper noun. In Activity 5.2 students write dictated sentences and are reminded to "pay attention to how sentences begin and end," and one dictated sentence contains the pronoun "I" ("I can stack these cubes"). The skills list also includes "Recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence," which supports attention to sentence-level conventions.
Lesson 4
More R-Controlled Vowels (er, ir, or, ur)
The skills list includes "Recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence" and "Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print," which relate to sentence conventions. In Activity 5.3 students write dictated sentences and are reminded to "pay attention to how sentences begin and end," and the model sentences provided begin with capitalized first words (e.g., "It is rude to burp."). Students also read and reread text (Weekly Message, readers) where sentences begin with capital letters, providing additional exposure to initial capitalization.
Lesson 5
Long a Spellings ai, ay
The Skills list explicitly includes "Recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence," which directs students to notice sentence structure. Day 5 Activity 5.2 has students write dictated sentences and instructs them to "pay attention to how sentences begin and end," giving students practice producing sentence-initial forms. Students read and write full sentences (e.g., "The train is on the track.") during dictation and reading tasks, offering implicit practice with sentence starts that include initial capitalization.
Lesson 6
Long e Spellings ee, ey, ea
Students are reminded that words that begin with an uppercase letter should come at the beginning of a sentence (Activity 4.2 Making Sentences). Students read and write complete sentences during sentence dictation and reader activities, and they are instructed to "pay attention to how sentences begin and end" (Activity 5.2). Students encounter and read sentences that include the pronoun I capitalized (e.g., "I see the monkeys at the zoo." in the Day 2 Long e Sentences page).
Lesson 7
Long i Spellings y, igh, ie
The Skills list includes "Recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence," indicating students are expected to identify sentence boundaries. Day 5 Activity 5.3 has students write dictated sentences and instructs to "pay attention to how sentences begin and end," so students practice writing sentence-beginning forms. Activity 1.2 asks why "Mike" is capitalized, so students consider capitalization of proper nouns.
Lesson 8
Long o Spellings ow, oa, oe
The Skills list includes "Recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence" and "Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print," which relate to sentence conventions. In Day 5, Activity 5.2 (Sentence Dictation), students write whole sentences as the teacher reads them and are told to "pay attention to how sentences begin and end." Students read dictated sentences that begin with a capitalized word (e.g., "The toad would float."), giving them practice with sentence starts in writing.
Lesson 9
Long u Spellings ue, ew, ou
Students are asked to write dictated sentences and are told to "pay attention to how sentences begin and end," which requires noticing sentence starts. The Skills list includes "Recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence," and students complete fill-in-the-blank and handwriting tasks that include sentences such as "I do not have a clue." Students read and copy model sentences in multiple activities (Weekly Message, reader, sentence dictation) where sentence-initial words and the pronoun I appear in printed form.
Lesson 10
Other Long Vowel Patterns
Students are asked to write full sentences in multiple activities (Day 3: write "The colts bolt." and "The snakes molt."; Day 5: sentence dictation of "The child is kind." and "The colt is blind."). The Skills list includes "Recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence," and instructions repeatedly remind students to "think about how sentences begin and end." The Fill-in-the-Blanks activity includes a sentence that begins with the pronoun I ("I can fold my shirts."), which students read and write.
Lesson 12
Other Vowel Sounds oi, oy
Activity 4.1 tells students to make sentences and explicitly reminds them that words that begin with an uppercase letter should come at the beginning of a sentence. Activity 5.2 has students write dictated sentences and reminds them to pay attention to how sentences begin and end (students write sentences such as "The boys play with the toy." and "Use your voice."). Activity 1.1 has students read the Weekly Message, which includes the pronoun "I," so students encounter and read the capitalized pronoun in context.
Lesson 13
Other Vowel Sounds ou, ow
Students are asked to read the Weekly Message aloud and point to words and sentences (Activity 1.1), and the skills list includes "Recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence." In Activity 5.2 students write dictated sentences and are reminded to "pay attention to how sentences begin and end." The example dictated sentences begin with a capital letter, providing a model of sentence-initial capitalization.
Lesson 16
Silent Starts: kn, wr, gn
Students read and point to full sentences that include initial capitals and the pronoun I (for example: "No, I do not know how to ski." and "I can write the right letters in many words."). Students write dictated sentences and are asked to "pay attention to how sentences begin and end." The skills list also includes "Recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence," which students practice through sentence reading, sorting, and dictation activities.