Each year, I have students struggle with putting ending punctuation in the correct spots. They know that they needed to use periods, but will put periods at the ends of lines or in seemingly random spots. I’ve spent a lot of time on this over the past few years and thought I’d share some tips for teaching punctuation to your elementary students.
Use Mentor Texts
To teach students how to be good writers, have them study books (and other texts) as mentors. Spend a lot of time discussing punctuation as you read:
What punctuation is the author using? Why was that mark chosen, and why was it placed there? How does this punctuation mark help me as a reader? What can I learn as a writer?
Practice Oral Reading
Use nonsense words or silly sentences for students to notice how our voices change depending on the punctuation that is used at the end of the sentence.
I love this idea from The Unique Classroom:
This can help students realize the importance of using ending punctuation in their writing.
Make It a Puzzle
I do have a resource of my own that has worked pretty well with my students. My “Missing Punctuation Paragraphs” are paragraphs that are missing punctuation.
There are four different levels – involving various types of punctuation – and students have to figure out where to place punctuation and capital letters.
I call them “punctuation puzzles” with my students to make teaching punctuation sound more appealing. We’ve used Skittles, markers, and playdough… You can read more about this activity in this blog post.
DISTANCE LEARNING? This resource is now available for digital use! This download includes a link to access the digital documents on Google Slides that you can share with your students to complete digitally.
Get Moving
Kim Bearden does a great, interactive punctuation lesson about teaching students to be “Grammar Police.” Such a fun way to practice punctuation with your students! See it here.
You may also like:
