Capital letters and full stops
A short captioned lesson on how to start and end a sentence, for children. Free, with a full transcript and teaching notes.
Read the whole lesson
Writing a sentence Hello, writers! I am Bramble the hedgehog, and today I want to show you two small marks that make a big difference to your writing.
A capital to start Every sentence starts with a capital letter. A capital letter is the tall, big version, like a strong flag at the front of the line.
The dog ran fast Look at this sentence. The dog ran fast. The first letter is a capital T. Can you spot it? It stands at the front, ready to go.
Ava Kofi Thiri Names need capital letters too. Ava, Kofi and Thiri all start with a capital. Even the names of places, like London, begin with a big letter.
A full stop to end Now for the end of a sentence. A full stop is a small dot that tells the reader to stop and take a breath, like a red light.
Stop here. Read your sentence out loud. When your voice finishes and drops, that is where the full stop goes. The dog ran fast. Stop!
The cat sat on the mat. Try this sentence. It has no capital and no full stop: the cat sat on the mat. Can you fix it? Capital T, and a full stop at the end.
Capital and full stop Brilliant. A capital letter at the start, and a full stop at the end. Check every sentence you write today. Bye from Bramble!
For grown-ups Teaching notes
- A sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark. This video focuses on capital letters and full stops.
- Ask children to read their sentence aloud, then point to where the voice drops: that is often where the full stop goes.
- Capitals are also used for names. Spot the names in a page of text together.
- Common slip: a run of sentences with no full stops. Use a highlighter to mark each start and end.
Tip: pause the video after each picture, ask the child to say the answer, then press play.