English Grammar Nouns for Class 1

Nouns are the first part of grammar most kids learn, and in Class 1 they are usually called naming words. A noun is the name of a person, a place, an animal or a thing. Everything a six-year-old can point to has a name, and that name is a noun.

You don't need worksheets to teach this. The four steps below take about fifteen minutes each and use whatever is around the house. Do one step a day, or all four over a weekend.

Step 1: Name Everything

Start with a walk around one room. Point at things and let your kid name them: chair, fan, window, Mummy, cat, shoe. Every answer is a noun.

Then tell them the new word: “All of these are naming words. In English class, they're called nouns.” Keep going until they start pointing and naming without you.

A quick check: say a few words and ask, “Is this a naming word?” Table (yes), jump (no, that's something you do), teacher (yes), happy (no, that's a describing word, and describing words in Class 1 are a topic of their own).

Kids usually get it fast once they hear a word that isn't a noun next to one that is.

Step 2: Sort Them into Four Boxes

Draw four boxes on a sheet of paper and label them Person, Place, Animal, Thing. Then call out nouns one at a time and let your kid point to the right box, or write the word in it if they can.

Some words are fun to argue about. Is a tree a thing? (In Class 1, yes.) Is Grandpa a person? (Of course.) The sorting matters less than the talking.

Step 3: Special Names Get a Capital Letter

Now show them the difference between a general name and a special name.

• girl is any girl. Riya is one particular girl.

• city is any city. Delhi is one particular city.

• festival is any festival. Diwali is one particular festival.

• day is any day. Sunday is one particular day.

The special names are called proper nouns, and they always start with a capital letter, wherever they are in a sentence. The general names are called common nouns, and they only get a capital at the start of a sentence.

A simple rule your kid can remember: “If it's somebody's own name, it gets a big letter.” Their own name, their school's name, their pet's name and their town's name all start with capital letters.

Try it: write these sentences without any capitals and let your kid fix them.

1. my friend aman lives in pune.

2. we go to the park on sunday.

3. our dog is called bruno.

Answers:

1. My, Aman, Pune

2. We, Sunday

3. Our, Bruno

Six-year-olds enjoy fixing someone else's mistakes far more than being corrected themselves, which is why games like this come up so often in Bambinos' live English classes for young kids.

Step 4: Words That Stand in for Nouns

Read this out loud: Ravi has a kite. Ravi flies the kite. Ravi loves the kite.

Ask your kid if it sounds a bit odd. Most will say yes, because “Ravi” keeps repeating. Now try: Ravi has a kite. He flies it. He loves it.

He and it are pronouns. They take the place of a noun so we don't have to keep saying it. In Class 1, the ones to know are I, you, he, she, it, we and they.

A matching game works well here. Say a noun and let your kid shout the pronoun: the boy → he, Mummy → she, the ball → it, my friends and I → we, the birds → they.

What to Expect

Kids at this age mix up common and proper nouns now and then, especially with words like mother, which can be either. “My mother” is common, but “Hello, Mother!” can be written as a name. That's fine.

If they can find the naming words in a sentence and remember capitals for people's names and places, they're right where Class 1 expects them to be.

If you'd like a teacher to take it further with stories and games, you can sign up for a free class and watch one.