National Punctuation Day: September 24th

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National Punctuation Day is on September 24th. Punctuation is a skill that needs to be taught in school according to the CCSS ELA Literacy Standard L.2.2. Literacy research has demonstrated that students need to learn about grammar in the context of real reading and writing (Learning at the Primary Pond, 2015).

When I was taking a college grad. class, I developing a lesson plan with a team of fellow students. I still use the lesson with my students on National Punctuation Day. It is a lot of fun, and it focuses on important skills that the students can then utilize the rest of the year. Please feel free to use or adapt the lesson to best suit your class. Also, on Twitter, please share with others what you do in your classroom to celebrate National Punctuation Day.

Thank you Education.Com for the free Worksheet and Answer Key. Punctuation can't take a vacation with us around! Please check out Education.com for more exciting language arts worksheets and activities like this!

Don't Let Punctuation Take Vacation

Objective: Students will be able to recognize when to use a period, exclamation point, and question mark. Students will be able to recognize the importance of starting a sentence with a capital letter.

 

Standard: CCSS ELA Literacy Standard L.2.2.

 

Materials: Punctuation Takes a Vacation By: Robin Pulver Illustrated By: Lynn Rowe Reed, 3 Shirts (One shirt draw periods on the shirt, One shirt draw exclamation points on the shirt, and One shirt draw question marks on the shirt), Power Point Introduction, Worksheet and Answer Key, and Student Journals. 

 



Assessment: Writing Journals- Select a writing passage to check for proper use of punctuation and capitalizations.

Procedure:
1. Introduce the different kinds of sentences and punctuation marks. Select 3 volunteers. Have the volunteers wear the punctuation shirts. Show the PowerPoint. Talk about it as a class. As a class come up with a hand motion and sound that represents the different punctuation marks.
2. Read aloud Punctuation Takes a Vacation By: Robin Pulver Illustrated By: Lynn Rowe Reed
3. I display the last slide of the Power Point on the projector. We talk about how it is confusing to read something that does not include punctuation or capitalizations. We correct it together as a class. We use the hand signs and sounds when we read through the corrected sentences.
4.We are a 1:1 school with ipads so I have the students open the worksheet that I post in Schoology. Then the students annotate on the document using PDF Cabinet. I put the students in partners to practice completing the worksheet. We go over it as a class. We use the punctuation sounds and hand motions at the end of the sentences too.
5. Students are encouraged to apply what they learned to a passage in their writer's notebook. Later, I collect the journals to check to see if the students mastered the use of punctuation and capitalization.



 

Gamification

Gamification

I am grateful that I had some amazing experiences over the summer. I learned a lot, and I was able to connect with incredible people. I had the privilege of attending ISTE and then I had the chance to work alongside a group of AMAZING Lead Learners at the Keystone Technology Innovator (KTI) Summit. I was thankful and honored to work alongside the people who I have always admired and respected. I was a KTI Star in 2018, and the Lead Learners invested in me. I was so filled-up from the experience that I couldn't help but want to have the chance to invest in others. I can't wait to see what the KTI2019 Stars continue to do! Also, I learned a lot at KTI! 

KTI Summit Lead Learners, 2019

 John Meehan @MeehanEDU shared about gamification at the KTI Summit. In addition, to teaching us about gamification,  he involved us! I had him autograph a copy of his Edrenaline Rush book too. I read through it a couple of times. I am so thankful that Hollie Woodard @holliewood24 organized this special event! 

Then I attended the Hive Summit.  Michael Matera @mrmatera is the host of the Summit. He shared about his book Explore Like a Pirate. I purchased it, and I read through it a couple of times.

My mind was ready was to explode (in a good way).  I had so many wonderful new ideas. I went to the lake to reflect upon everything. Sometimes I need a minute to reflect. I love nature. Plus, my roomie from KTI2019, Laura Fragassi @FragassiPVtech, reminded everyone at the Summit that it is important to take time for yourself too. If we want to be the best for our students then we need to take time to ourselves too. I have a notebook filled with ideas that I am exploring this year, and a list of new things that I am going to try. 

I decided that I would have the greatest impact if I gamified my college class for pre-service teachers. If pre-service teachers experience gamification then they might become more interested in trying it with their students. 

So here it ... my first (new) attempt at gamification. I have already used gamification in the classroom, but now I a have a new bag of tricks. 

In my Introduction to Early Childhood Class, I decided to assign each student a different theorist to represent in our Survivor game. I created a Google slide template. I provided an example too. At the KTI Summit, Laura Fragassi @FragassiPVtech and Kerin Steigerwalt @kerinteach used a Google slide template for everyone to share-out information their favorite ed. tech tools and teaching strategies. I made the slide template 8.5 x 11 so the students could print it to use it to study later if they would like. Students will discover a lot of information about their theorist, but they will need to curate the information. They need to select two important facts. Plus, they need to select the most important thing about their theorist. They will need to provide references in the slide notes section.

I will be making a video-introduction using my green screens to build-up the excitement. At the KTI Summit, our STEM Challenges were led by Tom Tancin @tancinscience, we used PowToon to build-up the excitement for different challenges. When the Survivor game starts we will assume the role of our theorist. Everyone will wear a name tag.

I will give out envelopes. Inside of the one envelope, I will include an immunity idol. After it is used it will be hidden in an envelope. I reshuffle and redistribute. I will divide the class into three groups (red, blue, and yellow team). As a group, they will complete Early Childhood challenges to earn immunity. For example, they will sort different types of instructional models based-on the provided examples. The two teams who do not have immunity will go to tribal council. At tribal council they need to talk like the theorist, and they need to explain why they are the most valuable person to the field of early childhood education. I will randomly pull the name of two members to go home per round. I will put-out their torch (a cup that looks like a torch). We will continue until we are down to the final tribal council. The class will listen to the final plea of the theorist, and then the class will vote. They will write why they think that theorist should win. 

I am so excited to give this a try! If you have suggestions or additional ideas for how I could improve this experience for my pre-service teachers then please reach out to me.