Glitch Guide Teacher Plan
Special Education Lesson Plan
Grammar Glitch Teacher Guide
Common vs. Proper Nouns in the Digital Age
Target Grade Middle School SpEd
Duration
45-50 Mins
Theme
Digital Life & Texting
Levels
Differentiated Worksheets
Instructional Objectives
Students will identify common nouns as general items and proper nouns as specific names. Students will apply capitalization rules to uncapitalized proper nouns in simple digital-themed texts.
1 Warm-Up: What is a Noun? (10 Mins)
Step 1: Board Setup & Launch
Gather students' attention. Write NOUN in large capital letters in the center of the whiteboard.
Teacher Writes on Board: Noun = A person, place, thing, or idea.
Dialogue Script
"Today, we are going to look closely at our favorite social media apps, gaming platforms, and tech brands to fix some major spelling and grammar glitches. But first: who can remind me, what is a noun? Raise your hand."
Prompting: If students struggle, look around the room. "Is this desk a noun? Is my phone a noun? Yes! They are things."
2 Common vs. Proper Nouns (15 Mins)
Draw a vertical line down the whiteboard to split it into two columns: Common Nouns (General) and Proper Nouns (Specific Names).
Common Nouns
"A general, everyday person, place, or thing. No capital letters."
Examples: phone, app, friend, restaurant, game
Proper Nouns
"A specific, official name of a person, place, or thing. ALWAYS capitalized!"
Examples: iPhone, TikTok, Sam, McDonald's, Roblox
Grammar Glitch Lesson Plan — Common vs. Proper Nouns Page 1 of 2
Active Learning & Game Play
Structured physical engagement and competitive game setup
3 Interactive Whiteboard Activity (10 Mins)
Invite students to take active roles on the classroom whiteboard. This builds physical interaction, visual mapping, and tactile learning.
A.
The Category Walk: Hand dry-erase markers to 4-5 students at a time. Call out digital words (e.g., "YouTube", "video", "Snapchat", "friend"). Students write them in the correct column on the board.
B.
The Capitalizer: Write uncapitalized proper nouns on the board (e.g., roblox). Invite a student to walk up and "correct the glitch" by crossing it out and writing Roblox with a capital letter.
4 The "Proper Noun Hunt" Team Game (15 Mins)
Concept: The story describes standard daily tech life and is written on a 1st grade level. It contains 21 uncapitalized proper nouns. Students must circle/highlight them on their sheets.
| Phase | Step-by-Step Instructions |
|---|
| 1. Prep | Split the class into 2 groups (Team Blue & Team Green). Hand out the Phone Fumble Game Sheet. |
| 2. Launch | Tell students: "This sheet has a paragraph with 21 proper nouns that are NOT capitalized. Spot them as a team!" |
| 3. Play | Set a timer for 5 minutes. Play upbeat background music. Teams search and circle together. |
| 4. Score | Review answers as a class on the whiteboard. The team with the most correct circles wins! |
Game Answer Key 21 Glitches Total
tiktok → TikTok
mrbeast → MrBeast
roblox → Roblox
sam → Sam
monday → Monday
target → Target
apple → Apple
mcdonalds → McDonald's
tuesday → Tuesday
nintendo → Nintendo
doritos → Doritos
pepsi → Pepsi
florida → Florida
wednesday → Wednesday
starbucks → Starbucks
chicago → Chicago
ben → Ben
thursday → Thursday
netflix → Netflix
oreos → Oreos
batman → Batman
5 Independent Check & Differentiation (10 Mins)
Standard Practice
Give standard students the Noun Network Worksheet. They identify common/proper tech words and fix capitalization glitches in texts.
Kindergarten Level (Modified)
Give lower level students the Emoji Edit Worksheet. This features picture-matching (e.g., iPhone icons, emoji labels) for visual-tactile learners.
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Phone Fumble Game Sheet
Team Challenge
The Proper Noun Hunt
Glitch Patrol: Spot the capitalization errors!
TIME: 5 MINS
Team Name:
Group Members:
Mission Instructions
The story below has a huge capitalization glitch. The proper nouns (special official names of apps, companies, people, days, states, snacks, or movies) are missing their capital letters!
Circle or highlight all 21 proper nouns that are NOT capitalized!
glitch_story_final.txt
Find 21 Errors
My sister has a new phone. She loves to watch tiktok all day. Her favorite creator is mrbeast. She also likes to play roblox with her friend sam.
On monday, we went to target to buy a new case. She wanted an apple case, but they only had blue ones. Then we went to mcdonalds to eat some fries.
On tuesday, my brother played games on his nintendo. He likes to eat doritos and drink pepsi when he plays. He wants to visit florida next summer with us.
On wednesday, my mom went to starbucks to get a sweet drink. She saw a big dog in chicago. She met her old friend named ben.
On thursday, we watched movie clips on netflix. We ate oreos and laughed a lot. My favorite super hero is batman because he is so cool.
Hunt Status: No Writing Required — Just Circle!
Glitches Found _______ / 21
Noun Network Worksheet
Independent Practice
Noun Network Worksheet
Spot the Differences: Common vs. Proper Nouns
Standard
Student Name:
Date:
A Noun Network Sorting Box
Read the words in the tech bank below. Sort them into the correct columns. Remember: proper nouns name specific brands/people and need capital letters!
phone
YouTube
Instagram
app
website
Android
creator
MrBeast
Common Nouns (4 total)
Proper Nouns (4 total)
B Text Message Glitch Fix
Read each sentence below. Find the uncapitalized proper noun. Write the correct word with its capital letter in the box on the right.
"i love chatting with friends on snapchat."
Fix:
"my favorite video on youtube was very funny."
Fix:
"we played multiplayer games all day on saturday."
Fix:
C Grammar Boss Challenge
1. Write any Common Noun (a general device or toy):
2. Write any Proper Noun (your favorite game or app name):
Grammar Glitch Series — Common & Proper Nouns practice Score: ____ / 10