Upper and lower case letter matching


6 Upper and Lower Case Letter Matching Activities for Preschool

Letter matching activities are an excellent way for preschoolers to explore the alphabet. This is a very basic and easy upper and lowercase letter matching activity to reinforce matching letters of the alphabet in a fun way that preschoolers enjoy.

Use this FREE printable upper and lowercase letter matching activity to help solidify letter recognition in your preschool kids to help prepare them for reading.

Don’t forget to grab your FREE upper and lower case letter matching printable at the end of this post!

Free Printable Letter Matching Activity!

Young children are naturally fascinated by the letters of the alphabet. Have you ever been driving when your preschooler points to a stop sign and says, “Look, Mom! S! My name has s in it!”

Even children as young as two years may begin naming and recognizing letters, especially those in their names or those that are frequently found in their environment. (Although let me be clear that is it completely OK if they aren’t). Those are always their favorite letters.

Upper and Lowercase Letter Matching Activities for Preschool

Typically upper case letters are easier for children to learn because the straight lines and familiar “o” shapes are easier for children to recall than lower case letters which are often a mix of various shapes. Take the letter “g” for example. It has an “o” shape, a straight line, and then a hook for the tail. All those together is more difficult for a preschooler to learn than an upper case G which is mostly an “o” shape.

But soon, preschoolers are ready to begin matching upper and lower case letters, and letter matching activities like this one are a great place to start.

This free alphabet printable follows the same letter order as my preschool phonics curriculum. In my phonics lesson plans, preschoolers are introduced to letters in the order of frequency of use in the English language. That way, if you happen to have a preschooler who is developmentally ready to start decoding words, she will already have a handful of sounds that when combined make up a lot of words!

You might also like:

These are posts that teach children how to spell their names, or teach the letters of their name.

Letter Tile Names – A Name Recognition Activity

Mosaic Letters
Tape Resist Name and Phonics Booklets

Materials for Letter Matching Activities

My favorite letter matching activities are simple and quick to prepare. You only need a few items.

  • FREE letter matching printable (found at the end of this post)
  • Laminator and laminating pockets (optional)
  • Glue sticks
  • Tray (This helps preschoolers define their workspace).

Set-Up the Letter Matching Activity

Print out your uppercase and lowercase letter matching printable.  (Remember, it’s free and at the end of this post). Cut them into letter tiles. (This is my all-time favorite paper cutter!)

I like to laminate my cards so that kids can use them over and over again, but you can also use glue sticks to glue the letters in place if you don’t want to go to the trouble of laminating the cards. And parents like it when their kiddos bring home a letter identification activity like this one.

Give each child a single grid, 15 corresponding letter tiles, and a glue stick all placed on a tray (skip the glue sticks if you’re doing this activity as a laminated activity).

My little disclaimers for the preparation

Don’t forget to grab your FREE upper and lower case letter matching printable at the end of this post!

To save time (and prevent potential accidents) I cut out the letter tiles in advance for my 3’s class.  However, if doing this activity with a 4-5’s class, I would have had the students do their own cutting. (I keep all those kid scissors organized with this colorful caddy.)

Kindergarten teachers really appreciate it when preschoolers have good scissor control. (Need some tips? Check out this post!)

The Letter Matching Activity (with FREE Printable)

The object of the activity comes in two strides.

First, have your students identify each upper case letter on the grid.  With the repetition of the four letters throughout the grid, identification of the letters ia solidified.

Next, show your students how to identify the lower case letters on the letter tiles and match with the upper case letters by gluing it on the grid.

To prevent random gluing, (as I knew some students would immediately gravitate to), I made an extra copy of the activity and modeled it for the students.

Once I modeled the concept with each letter, I asked the students to help me with the remaining letters. This is a traditional “I Do, Let’s Do it Together, You Do” teaching strategy). This ensured that all students knew exactly what to do when they received their own materials.

I offered this activity to my three-year-old preschool class. While I was expecting it to be difficult for some of my students, it was received rather well.

Surprisingly, our biggest challenge was not the matching of upper and lower case letters.  Instead, it was learning to paste the letter tiles on the grid correctly.

You know, put the glue on the back of the tile, not the front, and put the tile right-side-up? Just the little things you wouldn’t think would be a challenge, haha!

More Letter Matching Activities

Don’t forget to grab your FREE upper and lower case letter matching printable at the end of this post!

And more ways to use this printable! After all, a printable is only a good one if it meets your needs, so here are some ways to scaffold the matching activity to different learners.

  1. Invite individual students to name specific letters as you point to them.
  2. Challenge your students to also think of something that begins with that letter. (Check out this letter/sound activity, too!)
  3. For younger learners, have the children sort their letters into piles before they begin gluing. Then they only have to worry about finding one kind of letter at a time. It’s less overwhelming that way.
  4. Use the letter tiles to spell out sight words or easy CVC words.
  5. When the grid is completed, invite your preschoolers to find small toys that begin with each letter and place them on the corresponding tiles.

Don’t forget to grab your free printable at the end of this post, and then keep reading for more letter matching activities!

You might also like

These are some of my most popular letter matching activities for preschoolers.

 Rainbow Letters Race to the Top (FREE Printable)

I Spy Letters – A Letter Identification Activity for Preschoolers
Alphabet Circle Seek

The Benefits of Letter Matching

Thinking of objects that begin with the letter sound I was pointing to was difficult for the students. This is because it’s a skill that typically isn’t mastered until late preschool or not even until kindergarten for a lot of children. But this was a quick way for me to informally assess their letter/sound knowledge.

And, when I named a word, my three-year-old students were easily able to identify if that word began with the same letter to which I was pointing. This is just like our sound matching activity I threw together with just a set of animals toys and a lot like our flashcard practice.

This letter matching activity was an effective way to reinforce the letters we had been studying.  It was an excellent review and the students were proud of their completed work and put it on display.

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ABC Letter Stack Game

Letter Sound Matching Activity
Initial Sound Object Matching

Grab Your FREE Letter Matching Printable

Remember, this FREE letter matching printable practices the alphabet in the same order I introduce them in my preschool literacy curriculum, which makes these perfect for each review week!

Don’t forget to keep reading for more letter matching activities!

Looking for More Letter Matching Activities?

You might enjoy these other letter matching printables. I like to use these as literacy centers.

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I’m Sarah, an educator turned stay-at-home-mama of five! I’m the owner and creator of Stay At Home Educator, a website about intentional teaching and purposeful learning in the early childhood years. I’ve taught a range of levels, from preschool to college and a little bit of everything in between. Right now my focus is teaching my children and running a preschool from my home. Credentials include: Bachelors in Art, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction.

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Uppercase & Lowercase Letter Recognition Matching Hole Punch Activity

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What is it about school supplies that is so exciting? I loved when school supply shopping time came around and as an adult, shopping to stock my work desk makes me giddy. My daughter has learned (or maybe she was born with it) to love office and school supplies, too. Even as a toddler she loved using markers instead of crayons or tried to use adult scissors instead of kid scissors. So I knew that when I set up this free Uppercase & Lowercase Letter Matching Hole Punch Activity, we would have fun!

*Pair with our Clothespin Clip Cards BUNDLE for Kindergarten!

Uppercase & Lowercase Letter Matching Hole Punch Activity

I created this activity because my daughter has a few letters, both uppercase and lowercase, that she gets stuck on. Practice makes perfect and adding a hole punch in the mix makes practicing letter recognition super fun!

Each printable page in this activity has four letter matching strips on it. There is one strip for each letter included. I’ve also included both color and black and white versions for an ink-saving option!

To get started, first gather the supplies:

  • Letter recognition printables (download below)
  • Single hole punch
  • Scissors
  • Manipulatives (erasers, reusable stickers, etc.) – optional
  • Dry erase markers – optional

Ways to Use the Letter Recognition Printables

For Single Use: For single use I like to use the black and white printable version of this letter matching activity. Print it out and cut along the outer dotted lines to make the strips ready for the kids to hole punch.

The letter bank has two lines to allow for more of a variety of letters.

Kids find the lowercase letters in the letter bank, that match the uppercase letter. Once they have found the matches they can hole punch them. When that strip is complete, they can move on to the next. Using stickers to cover the matching letters is also a great option for strengthening fine motor muscles.

For Center/Reusable Use: This activity also includes a fun color version that is great for a reusable activity or for your literacy centers. Print the pages, laminate, and then cut them into strips. The kids can use manipulatives such as erasers or counters to cover the matching letters.

Sometimes we like to use dry erase markers to mark the matching letters on the laminated strips. This is always a hit!

At home this turned out to be a great letter matching activity that I could give my daughter while making dinner or folding laundry. When she needed assistance on letters that she wasn’t quite confident with, she could ask but I did not need to be 100% involved. It’s wonderful to see how well she reacted to this activity and how one simple office supply motivated her to practice her letters!

Grab Your FREE Copy

Ready to practice letter recognition and fine motor skills? Grab your free copy of the hole punch letter matching printables by clicking the large, yellow download button at the end of the post!

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Difference between uppercase and lowercase letters with visual examples

Many Internet users, as well as those who study the Russian language, are faced with a misunderstanding of the difference between writing words with capital or small letters. And if some are guided at least by where the word is located in the sentence, then in the case when the author of the text is given the task of writing with a lowercase letter or with an uppercase letter, then, as a rule, he has difficulties.

Most people associate the word "uppercase" with small letters, which allow you to "write" your thoughts in the text. However, these are incorrect associations. Capital letters are capital or upper case. You can remember this if you remember the expression "common truths", that is, the approved rules for correct spelling.

Based on the above, it should be concluded that:

uppercase letters are those that are called uppercase or capital letters.

Words are written in capital letters

1 — Names, patronymics, surnames (including double names and surnames with hyphens), pseudonyms, nicknames are written in capital letters.

  • Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, Rimsky-Korsakov, Antosha Chekhonte, Vladimir Krasnoe Solnyshko.

2 - the name of the settlement, river, planet.

3 - Proper names used in the meaning of common nouns are written with a capital letter if they have not lost the sign of individuality.

  • — We all look at the Napoleons…” (A. Pushkin).

- names of animals are written.

  • - Sharik, Muska, Chara, Pug.

4 - names of characters, expressed by common names, in fables, fairy tales, dramatic and some other works.

  • Already, Falcon, Fox.

5 - mythological creatures and deities.

  • Mars, Zeus, Juno.

6 — Adjectives formed from proper names, animals, mythological creatures with the help of suffixes —ov—(—ev—), —in—, are written with a capital letter.

  • Platonic writings, Varin's house, Murka's kittens, Zeus's wrath.

7 - Adjectives formed from proper names that have the meaning of "name of such and such", "memory of such and such", then are written with a capital letter.

  • Pushkin Readings, Nobel Prize.

8 - official and unofficial names of states, republics and other territorial units.

  • Russia, Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belarus, Trans-Urals, Republic of Mordovia.

9 - geographical names, including hyphenated spelling.

  • Europe, Alps, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Volga, Orekhovo-Zuevo.

10 - function words in the middle of the name.

  • Rostov-on-Don, Frankfurt am Main, Rio de Janeiro.

11 - If such service words are at the beginning of the name, then they are written with a capital letter.

  • Las Vegas, etc.

12 Common nouns used in geographical names in the meaning of their own can be written both with uppercase and lowercase letters.

  • Belaya Tserkov, Yasnaya Polyana;
  • Zemlyanoy Val, Kuznetsky Most, Pokrovsky Gates.

13 - astronomical names.

  • Earth, Sun, Ursa Minor, Milky Way.

14 - the names of the highest government agencies and organizations are written, as well as the names of some international organizations.

  • Federation Council, Constitutional Court, State Duma, Federal Assembly, United Nations Organization, Council of Europe.

15 - the names of the highest government positions and the highest honorary titles.

  • President of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Hero of the Russian Federation.

16 - the names of the most important church organizations and institutions.

  • Russian Orthodox Church, Moscow Patriarchate.

17 - official titles of senior religious officials (except official words and pronouns).

  • Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', Pope of Rome

18 - names of cult books.

  • Bible, Gospel, New Testament, Psalter, Koran.

19 - the first word in the complex names of ministries, scientific institutions, higher educational institutions, industrial and commercial organizations that do not have a single character.

  • Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Moscow State Regional University, House of Books, Kama Automobile Plant.

20 are common abbreviations.

  • Bolshoi Theater (cf. State Academic Bolshoi Theatre), Tretyakov Gallery (cf. State Tretyakov Gallery).

21-If prepositions, particles that are part of foreign names and surnames, word-formation units have merged with surnames, given names, then they are written with a capital letter.

  • Don Quixote, Van Gogh.
  • words - The words God, Allah are capitalized

22 - at the beginning of direct speech;

23 - at the beginning of the quote;

To understand the difference between lowercase and uppercase letters, it is necessary to understand the meaning of the word "lowercase". The first thing that comes to mind is that the letters are in a line. That is, they are small, of which the whole sentence consists.

So

small letters are called lowercase,

Words are written with lowercase

1 — Adjectives formed from proper names with the suffix —sk-.

  • Pushkin's prose, Lermontov's traditions.

2 - Proper names that have lost their sign - become common nouns.

  • napoleon (cake), don juan, amp.

3 — Adjectives in phraseological units are written with a lowercase letter.

  • Demyanov's ear, Filkin's diploma, etc.

4 — The words planet, constellation, nebula, comet are written in astronomical names with a lowercase letter.

  • Andromeda nebula, planet Earth, constellation Scorpio.

5 - The names of other positions, academic degrees, honorary titles, etc. are written with a lowercase letter.

  • Doctor of Philosophy, Corresponding Member, etc.

6 - Generic terms in the names of churches, icons are written with a lowercase letter.

  • Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, icon of Our Lady of the Don, Notre Dame Cathedral.

7- names of plants formed from proper names are written.

  • Ivan da Marya, daisy.

8 - prepositions, particles that are part of foreign names and surnames are written, namely: van, yes, de, der, di, le, la, of, background, ed, el.

  • Antoine de Saint-Exupery, von Bismarck.

9 - the words bey, zade, ogly, pasha, etc. are written in eastern names and surnames.

10 - names of church services.

  • Liturgy, Vespers, Matins, Vespers, etc.

11 - in set phrases in words.

  • for God's sake, God knows what, my God, etc.

12 - after the first and subsequent words of the sentence;

13 decimal point;

14 after semicolon;

15 after an ellipsis in one phrase.

Uppercase, uppercase, and lowercase letters are two types of characters that are used when writing any text. If you remember the information that is presented in this publication, then the copywriter will not have any confusion when creating an article according to specified criteria such as: “write with lowercase” or “write only with uppercase”.

For beginners, we recommend visiting the Continue Patterns page.

Also, for the development of hand motor skills, we recommend you interesting pictures with coloring pages and entertaining drawing lessons.

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Uppercase and lowercase letters: usage, rules, examples

Is a capital letter large or small? If you can not immediately answer this question, then read the article. In it, we will see what an uppercase letter means and how it differs from a lowercase letter. And also we will analyze the rules of lowercase and uppercase letters and give understandable examples.

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What do uppercase and lowercase letters mean

What are lowercase and uppercase letters? The examples are not always clear, so let's start with definitions:

Capital or lowercase letters are graphic characters used in writing that are larger than line boundaries. They are also called the big ones.

A lowercase letters are graphic characters that do not exceed the size of a line in writing. They are also called small letters.

The very name "capital letters" arose in Russian from the verb "prescribe". In ancient texts there were no capital letters, all words were written from lowercase. And only at the beginning of the chapters, the first letter, which was called the “letter letter”, was depicted more than all the others. It was written by hand. Therefore, now capital letters are also called uppercase.

In Russian, every lowercase letter has a capital counterpart. Even "b", "y" and "b", although it is difficult to imagine where they can be used. However, not all experts support this opinion and prefer to consider that the Russian language has 33 lowercase and only 30 capital letters.

Another feature of the Russian language is that the spelling of large and capital letters does not always coincide. So, for example, the letter is different:

  • capital " A " and lowercase " a ";
  • capital " B " and lowercase " b ";
  • capital " D " and lowercase " d ";
  • capital " E " and lowercase " e " and some others.

Uppercase and lowercase letters in different languages ​​

Capital letters are used in many languages ​​of the Indo-European family: Greek, Slavic, Germanic and Romance.

What does the capital letter mean in these languages? It can mean the beginning of a new phrase, a proper name, a geographical name, and much more. Below we will analyze in detail in which cases a capital letter is written.

However, not all language systems can observe the use of capital letters. Hebrew, Arabic, Indian, Thai and other languages ​​use only lowercase alphabetic characters.

There were no capital letters in the Glagolitic alphabet, the first Russian written language. Capital letters firmly came into use only in the 18th century and all thanks to the great reformer Peter I. He not only brought reforms to Russia, but also introduced a civil typeface that contained both small and large letters.

There are many words in Hebrew that are spelled the same but read differently and have different meanings. For example, the word "דוד" can sound like "dod" and mean "uncle" , like "dud" - "bak" and like "David" - a male name. How do the Israelis understand where is the meaning? Exceptional context.

Uppercase and lowercase letters: spelling rules

Let's see what rules to follow when using uppercase and lowercase letters in Russian. And to make it easier to remember, let's give examples of uppercase and lowercase letters in words.

Capital letter at the beginning of a sentence

The basic rule is: always write a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence.

Example: It's easy to make a term paper. It is necessary to choose a topic, write the text and check for errors. Pay special attention to words with -Н- and -НН-, conjugation of verbs and spelling of particles "not" and "neither" with different parts of speech.

By the way! For our readers there is now a 10% discount on any kind of work.

It is customary to capitalize not only the first word in standard sentences, but also every new line in poetry. This rule works even when the author didn't finish the sentence:

Night, street, lamp, pharmacy,

Meaningless and dim light.

Live at least another quarter of a century -

Everything will be like this. There is no exit.

If you die, you start over again

And everything will repeat, as of old:

Night, ice ripples of the channel,

Pharmacy, street, lamp.

Alexander Blok

Capital letter in proper names

Another rule that always works: capital letters are written in proper names. It remains to figure out what applies to them.

Proper names are the names of objects or phenomena that are unique and stand out from the general mass of homogeneous concepts.

Vice versa, common nouns are names that apply to entire groups of similar objects. Such nouns always begin with lowercase letters.

Earth with a capital letter is a planet, and with a small one - a common name

Let's look at specific cases when a capital letter is written in proper names. And also remember the exceptions, without which it is impossible to imagine the Russian language:

Rule Example Exception
Surnames, first names and patronymics of people Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, Pushkin, Mashenka, Marina Ivanovna. If proper names are used as a common noun, they are written with a lower case: Pikapers are modern don Juans and womanizers.
In pseudonyms, nicknames and nicknames Maxim Gorky, Bolbes and Experienced. If nicknames are used for a whole group of people: Why are balls dangerous for society?
Animal names Dolly the sheep, Barbos the dog, Murka the cat. If the nickname is used as a common name for the group: In the morning, any watchdog barks just like that.
In the names of fairy-tale characters Princess Nesmeyana Mermaid, Puss in Boots.
In the names of gods Jesus, Allah, Mara, Poseidon, Osiris, Quetzalcoatl. The word itself "god" can be written both with a capital letter and with a lowercase letter. In church texts, they often write with a capital letter, but in popular literature - with a small letter.
In religious names Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Holy Scripture, Koran, Mother of God, Wailing Wall.
In place names Arctic Ocean, Kilimanjaro, New York, Serpukhovo.
In street and avenue names Alexander Nevsky Square, Tsvetochnaya Street, Raduzhny Lane.
In the names of astronomical bodies and objects Planet Venus, satellite of Jupiter, Halley's comet, Milky Way galaxy. If this is not an astronomical object, but a homonym: planet Earth and native land.
In the names of historical eras and events The Renaissance, the October Revolution, the War of the Scarlet and White Roses.
In the names of holidays Walpurgis Night, Independence Day, Victory Day, First of May, but May 1st. If this is the date of the holiday, then it is written with a small one: The New Year is celebrated on December 31st.
In the names of awards Title of Hero of Russia, Order of the Legion of Honor, but Order of the Red Star.
In legal official names of companies and brands that are quoted Suzuki Auto Concern, Gorbunov's Bureau Creative Agency, Orlovsky Park Hotel. The name is not quoted if it is written in Latin letters: Hilton hotel, Pixies creative agency, BMW concern.
In the names of organizations and institutions Federation Council, United Nations, European Union.
In the names of unique titles and positions President of the Russian Federation, Prime Minister. All other positions are written with a small one: NATO Secretary General, EU Minister, Bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Abbreviated CIS, IAEA, UN, PE, MIA, USA. Some abbreviations are always written with a small letter: university, college, dot, bunker, bum, interim, spa.
In the titles of scientific articles, literary titles and other works The novel "War and Peace", the fairy tale "The Scarlet Flower", the article "Why sleep should be a priority for every student".

What are capital letters in street names? Examples may vary depending on the literary norm. So, in the names Chistye Prudy, Kuznetsky Most, Nikitsky Gates , only the first word was capitalized. Now the norm has changed and both words are capitalized: Chistye Prudy, Kuznetsky Most, Nikitsky Gate . If in doubt about spelling, refer to dictionaries.

Capital letter in adjectives

There are a few cases where adjectives are capitalized, and they also need to be remembered:

  1. If the adjective expresses belonging to a particular person. For example, Misha's shirt, Vanka's stories.
  2. If the adjective refers to the memory of a famous person. For example, Pushkin Evenings, Spring Tolstoy Readings.

If the expression has become a common noun, then it is written with a lowercase letter: Sisyphean labor, Turgenev young ladies, oatmeal porridge.

Capital letter after colon

What other words are capitalized? Those with which direct speech begins. In the text, this is formalized as follows:

  • the words of the author come first;
  • then put a colon;
  • in quotation marks write the words of direct speech.

Example: Ivanov sighed and said to the teacher: “You shouldn’t want to expel me for absenteeism, but I can refund my record book and student card.”

A special case: with what letter to write the appeal "YOU"

In official documents, letters and business correspondence, the appeal "YOU" and its derivatives are often written with a capital letter. It is believed that this form shows maximum respect for the interlocutor.

In letters to a respected person, it is appropriate to write "You"

However, the rules of the Russian language do not impose strict norms. They recommend using "you" only if the author intentionally wants to emphasize his special relationship to a particular person.


Learn more