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Have student's sort sentences by which punctuation should be used.

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Sentence and Ending Punctuation Activities

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Sentence and Ending Punctuation Unit Are you tired of your kiddos just not writing those complete sentences at the beginning (or any point really) of the year? Me too! This pack is designed to help you teach or re-teach those ever important basics of sentences.

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Help children create their own little book using punctuation.

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My litte pigeon and I have been working tirelessly with my little second graders to improve their writing and it is slowly but surely working! I noticed that my kiddos have SUCH good ideas as to what to write about, but our sentence conventions are holding us back!

We are big into goal setting in our classroom, so we set a goal for ourselves to improve the use of our punctuation. This means that not only are we going to make sure our sentences all end with punctuation, but we are also going to vary our punctuation to use more question marks and exclamation points.

So I started out by showing my kiddos Rachelle Smith's Punctuation Perfection pack that is FREE on TPT. It is an awesome resource to introduce the "ending marks" as I call them, and show the kids when you should use them. It also gives you posters for apostrophes, quotation marks, and commas if you need them as well!

Then, I gave my students this packet I made called My Little Book of Punctuation. This is an interactive book in which students learn about the definitions of each type of ending mark punctuation, practice writing them, practice identifying which sentences use which type of punctuation, and writing their own sentences using different ending marks.

Then, we read a few books that have lots of examples of the various punctuation so we can notice when good authors use them.

The first book I read is More Bears! by Kenn Nesbitt. This book is HYSTERICAL! If you like shared reading, this book is wonderful! It has all kinds of examples of the use of question marks and exclamation points.

In addition to reading this story, we also made a cute little craft to go with it! In this story, the author is the narrator and the story is written like he is talking and interacting with you, and on every page is the statement "MORE BEARS!!" for one reason or another. The story is all about adding more bears to the story, but in the end the author decides the story needs more chickens.

So I had my kiddos make a little bear that looks similar to the bear on the cover with construction paper. The kids make their bear, and then choose something that the author should have "more" of. They are then responsible for explaining why. In addition to explaining why, they are responsible for using each type of ending mark in their explanation at least once. They may need 2-3 of the lined writing speech bubble. You can get the craftivity here!

Here is an example of one of my kiddos projects :)

Another awesome series to read is the pigeon series by Mo Willems. We read The Pigeon Wants a Puppy! and Don't Let the Pigeon Ride the Bus! His books are full of the different uses of ending mark punctuation and the kiddos just love how silly this little pigeon is!

These are really great books for students to listen to expression. Sometimes they can tell me what type of ending mark punctuation is used in the sentence, but they don't really understand why the author would want to use it. For this activity, I read the first story (either book would work first) on one day. Then the next day, I give students
this paper, and tell them to listen closely to my expression as I read the second book.

They have to listen for a question, a statement, and an exclamatory statement and write them down when they hear it. It is a really good assessment to see if your students can hear the difference when you are talking!

Hopefully this will help you in your punctuation journey! I know that it is slowly but surely helping mine :)

Enjoy the calm today, and good luck tomorrow. I know my class is going to be "batty!" (Haha)

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Crazy about Punctuation!! (FREEBIES GALORE!!)

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My litte pigeon and I have been working tirelessly with my little second graders to improve their writing and it is slowly but surely working! I noticed that my kiddos have SUCH good ideas as to what to write about, but our sentence conventions are holding us back!

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Another activity to get the kids up and moving. Could make adjustments for younger students.

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Play Punctuation Red Light, Green Light | Activity | Education.com

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With nothing more than a flat open space and some lively kids, you can reinforce key concepts of punctuation while having lots of healthy laughs.

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Hands on activity where students select and idem from a question or period bag and they create a sentence using the punctuation and the item they selected.

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Put small items in each bag. Children have to say either a question or statement for the item they take out.

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Fun book to read aloud.

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Mentor Text Linky // Currently // Manic Monday

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Get the kids up and moving with this fun dance.

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So, if you're here, chances are very good that you found me through my customizable, editable lesson plan template. (The thing has- no joke- over 98,000 page views. Thank yoooou, Pinterest!) Well, if you've made one, I have news for you...

It's now super easy to make sub plan templates in Microsoft Word. It takes a little time up front, but trust me when I say that it makes sub plans so much easier later, when you need them.

I make my plans at the beginning of the year, but for the next few weeks, I try them out and make notes to myself of what I need to change or add. Things like "Johnny to speech" and "Kasey to O.T." are great little notes to add in in a tiny font as they come up.

Once I feel like I've got it just about perfect and definitely not right before I actually need sub plans for the first time, I make sample sub plans. If I have the basic format, this is so easy to do ahead of time, and makes it much simpler to just fill in later. Here's how:

First, save a copy of your lesson plans with a different name. No need to accidentally lose your lesson plans! Then, I like to open it so I can see a 2-page spread.

Next, you'll need to split the cells that are merged going across, if you have any. Just highlight the cell, right-click, and go to Split Cells...

Now, highlight the column you want to make plans for. I'm making sub plans for Friday. Copy this column, and then open a new Word document.

Paste it into the new document. You may want to adjust the margins. When I did this, my table fell off the side of the page. Oh no! What to do now?

Not to fear! Go down to the views and click Web Layout. It'll let you see the edge of the table so you can bring it back in again. You don't have to be exact- just bring it in a little.

Then you can switch back to the normal page view to adjust.

I go back and copy/ paste the time column, too, to stick in front of the Friday column.

Hit Save As... and name it something like Sub Plans- Monday 2012. (I put the Sub Plans part first so that they all end up right next to each other in my folder.) I totally suggest using DropBox for this, so you can access it from home or school!

Now, I go through and type in more details where a sub would need them. I always include this in a folder that has more information about normal procedures, but I want to put the most necessary things here, such as attention-getting, behavioral system, and any special health needs.

It's okay if your table goes over one page. My sub plans are usually 2 or 3. I still like how the table breaks up the day into parts and makes it really easy to tell when something major (like a special or lunch) is happening. I leave the subject spaces empty to fill in later.

If you want to keep making plans for each day, keep this document open so you can copy and paste the explanations that stay the same from day to day.

You can go back to your lesson plan page and copy relevant columns to make a document for each day of the week. Delete or add columns until you have just the time and day. Then, proceed to copy/paste any relevant explanations (for instance, my explanations for lunch, attendance, and dismissal stay the same every day) and fill in any that are different.

Now, when I need to be absent, I have a file ready for each day with most of the complicated stuff written out, and spaces for each subject.

My sub folder usually includes:
- these lesson plans (and an extra copy of them)
- a map of the school
- classroom roster with photos
- allergy or medical info they need to know
- behavioral issues they need to know
- more detail about procedures
- seating chart (using Post-Its in a file folder made this EASY to leave!)
- list of student jobs
- some "just in case" activities (Color By Number works well for this because it can take up plenty of time as needed!)

I always include an extra copy of the sub plans in the folder, and underneath I put copies and resources in order, paper-clipped together, with Post-It notes labeling each one.

I usually also leave enough change for a Coke in the teacher's lounge with a little thank you note, and the plan for bribing motivating my kiddos to behave. (5 cotton balls for our behavior jar are a BIG motivator!)

Of course, if you're looking for sub plans that are easy to leave in a pinch, I posted about some of my favorite lesson plans to leave for subs at the last minute and linked to 5 freebies for you, so be sure to check out this post!

Meanwhile, you may be wondering why I put myself through all this work to leave sub plans for last Friday.

Well, my "twin" got married this weekend! We've been friends for as long as I can remember, she was one of my bridesmaids, and it was incredible to stand up with her on her beautiful (and incredibly crafty) wedding day. Congratulations, Sarah! :)

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So, if you're here, chances are very good that you found me through my customizable, editable lesson plan template. (The thing has- no joke- over 98,000 page views. Thank yoooou, Pinterest!) Well, if you've made one, I have news for you... It's now super easy to make sub plan templates in Microsoft Word.

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Hands on activity that also builds fine motor skills.

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Read and clip the punctuation! Fun and hands-on literacy practice activities

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Have students tell which punctuation mark they see during a read aloud.

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Could be a fun way to review punctuation with the teacher's assistance.

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Have students stamp the correct punctuation.

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These practice pages can help with reading fluency, expression, and correct usage of end marks in writing.  Simple sentences using sight words and cvc words are easy to read and perfect for young students.  Some of these will make your students think!  Made to save your ink and more importantly, your time.  Only $1.00.