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Perfect Punctuation

Designing and creating a punctuation-themed game will help students playfully master their punctuation skills.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

  • Index Cards
  • Recycled Cardboard

Steps

  • Step 1

    Using correct punctuation is a fundamental skill for effective written communication. It helps bring clarity and understanding to written language, and it supports students' overall literacy development. Give students some practice sentences to punctuate, then review them as a class. Go over some common rules, such as using commas to separate words in lists, when to capitalize certain words, how to form contractions using an apostrophe, etc.

  • Step 2

    Have students divide into small groups to design and create a punctuation-themed game. Ask them to consider which punctuation marks they'll use, how the game advances, whether there will be challenge questions, and what the overall objective will be. To begin they can design the board on a recycled piece of cardboard or heavy paper. They can craft game pieces out of Model Magic and write game challenges on unlined index cards or small pieces of heavy paper.

  • Step 3

    When the game is done, have each team play a practice round to make sure they're satisfied with rules, process, and objectives of the game. Then have teams swap with others and enjoy perfecting their punctuation with productive play!

Standards

LA: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

LA: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

LA: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

LA: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade level topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

VA: Use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.

VA: Use visual structures of art to communicate ideas.

Adaptations

Have students do a punctuation dance. Read a short story to the class and have them act out the punctuation. They stomp their feet for a period, step to the side for a comma, wiggle their arms up and down for a question mark, and jump in the air for an exclamation point.

Have students make punctuation mark stick puppets by drawing and cutting out different marks such as a period, comma, exclamation point, question mark, etc. and then gluing it onto a craft stick. Write several unpunctuated sentences on the board, then ask students to hold up the correct punctuation marks in the appropriate places.