Capitalizing titles of books requires knowledge of parts of speech. Then, it’s actually easier to remember what not to capitalize: articles, coordinating conjunctions, and short prepositions. Of course, the first and last word in at title are always capitalized – no matter what.
Posts on this website follow a teaching journey and are written in story form.
Ms. Sneed Teaches Capitalizing Titles of Books, Magazines, Etc.
Our favorite fourth grade teacher sat at the side table in her classroom. First, she tapped her pencil. Then she sighed. Although she had been teaching capitalization rules all year, it was now time to work on capitalizing titles. Always tricky!
Across from her, Mr. Frank stared intently at his laptop. “Our traditional PowerPoints and worksheets are going pretty well,” he said. “But I just found 15 digital capitalization lessons. And here’s one on capitalizing titles.”
He turned the laptop to face Ms. Sneed. “Here, watch this short video. As you can see, kids review on their own. Then they practice with a few activities. Everything is online. Better yet, you don’t need to do anything. Just share the link, and away they go!”
The Rules for Capitalizing Titles
After they watched the video, Ms. Sneed took a closer look at how it taught capitalizing titles. “I see,” she said. “First, kids learn that the first word, last word, and all important words are capitalized. Yes, this is what they learn in primary grades.
“Then, it dives into what’s not capitalized: articles (a, an, the), conjunctions (and, or, but), and short prepositions. It’s a good thing we’ve been working on parts of speech.”
“Right, and don’t forget,” Mr. Frank added. “No matter what part of speech, the first and last words are always capitalized.”
Common Misconceptions
“Then,” Ms. Sneed continued, “they tackle misconceptions. First, capitalize being verbs. Aha! My kids always mess this up. When a word is short, they don’t capitalize it. However, all verbs should be capitalized.”
“Same with pronouns,” Mr. Frank added. “Short – but always capitalized.”
“And finally,” said Ms. Sneed, “the word after a colon is also always capitalized. These rules are short, sweet, and straightforward.”
Independent Practice
“And take a look at the examples for capitalizing titles of books!” Ms. Sneed smiled. “This is no wimpy version. As a matter of fact, when kids practice with these long titles, they get a real workout.”
The teachers looked more closely at the titles. “Hey,” said Mr. Frank, “I recognize these books. Actually, all of them are by Jean Fritz.”
“Once the kids are done with these, they’re ready for a few independent activities. Next, they’ll sort parts of speech. Finally, they’ll highlight words that should be capitalized in sample titles.”
Ms. Sneed sighed again. But this time, it was a happy sigh. “Yes. I think this will work,” she said.
