Common and Proper Nouns (In Reynard the Fox)

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Students need Language notebooks, pencils. Proeject the passage below on a Smarboard or LCD if possible.

First page of Reynard the Fox. Copy and paste the following into a separate document and copy for your students. Highlighters. Grammar notebook.

      Long ago in a faraway kingdom, young Prince Harold and his beautiful bride, Caroline, were crowned king and queen. Kinights and ladies, bishops and merchants, nobles and common folks—subjects from all corners of the realm—came to Court for the coronation. Everyone happily joined in the celebration—everyone, that is, but the new king.
      “Why are you so sad? asked Queen Caroline.
      Young Harold sighed. “I am not ready to be king,” he answered. “I have not earned the wisdom to rule. There are many in this kingdom who do not listen to me, who even covet my throne. My new subjects are greedy and constantly fight among theselves. And I am distressed that I don’t know how to deal with them, how to rule them wisely. What am I to do?”
      Queen Caroline understood her husband’s misgivings and thought for some time before she said, “I have heard stories of someone who may be able to help us.”
      “Give me his name,” said King Harold.
      “I do not know his name,” answered the queen. “But I have been told there is a wise hermit who lives among wild animals ina cave deep in the forest. Many seek him out for advice on matters simple and grave. No one knows where he comes from, how long he had been in the forest, or how he gained his wisdom. But it is known for certain that he has helped many of our subjects.”
      “My queen, you are very clever!” said the king. “Summon this mysterious hermit to our court.”


Students should have done some work with Reynard the Fox, but the presentation itself only requires that students know the basic parts of speech. Especially, can they recognize a noun and distinguish nouns from other parts of speech


1. Review nouns. Show the symbol. Remind children of the pyramids. Review definition of nouns. Have children give examples. Make sure that all students can show a basic understanding.

2. Introduce the concept of common and proper nouns. Common nouns represent a class of objects, like a car, while Proper nouns represent a specific item within the general class, like a Toyota Prius. Common nouns are not capitalized, unless they are the first word in a sentence, while proper nouns are always capitalized.

3. Re-use the first page of Reynard. Ask students to be make two columns in their notebooks, common nouns and proper nouns. Underline all capitalized nouns with one color and all nouns that are not capitalized in a second color.

4. Have students list all nouns in appropriate column.

5. Discuss the difference between common and proper nouns.

Suggestions for Student Work: Have students take the first page of a novel they are reading and list all the nouns, classifying them as common and proper.

Control Of Error


Points Of Interest

Have student notice that published literature makes a careful distinction between common and proper nouns by always capitalizing proper nouns.


Direct Aim: Introduce Common and Proper Nouns

Indirect Aim: Teaching capitalization rules to be used in writing.


Have students make a list of as many common and proper nouns as they can find, using the first pages of novels.