Punctuation:

Lost
and Found!
First Grade Reading 55 minutes Standards: RF.1.1a, W.1.8

by Anna Parrish May 24, 2015

Help, help! Some sentences are missing an end mark! Throughout this lesson, your students will
solve the "mystery" of missing punctuation marks and learn the difference between a period,
question mark, and exclamation point.

Learning Objectives
Students will be able to use periods, question marks, and exclamation points correctly.

Materials and Preparation

Large cut-outs of periods, question marks, and exclamation points (1 per class)
Small cut-outs of periods, question marks, and exclamation points (1 set per
student)
Teacher Modeling poster
Lunchroom Punctuation worksheet (write sentences from the worksheet on
individual, large sentence strips)
Question Words poster
Sentence Scramble manipulatives
Sentence Scramble worksheet
Punctuation Fill-In worksheet
Paper
Pencils
Glitter pens (optional)

Key Terms:
period
question mark
exclamation point

Get more lesson plans at www.education.com/lesson-plans/

 Attachments

PDF PDF PDF PDF PDF PDF

I Spy Lunchroom Punctuation Punctuation Question Sentence

Punctuation Punctuation Fill-In Student Words Scramble
Cards

PDF NOTEBOOKPDF

Sentence Teaching Teaching

Scramble Modeling Modeling
Manipulatives Poster Poster
SMART
Board file

Lesson
Introduction (5 minutes)
Prior to this lesson, cut out and hide the three large punctuation marks somewhere in the
room. For example, stick one of the punctuation marks in a place where it doesn't belong,
such as taped to a computer or stuck to the corner of a bulletin board.
Tell your students that they have some sentence mysteries to solve. Introduce the task of
searching for the hidden punctuation marks.
Invite your students to play “I Spy” with three different punctuation marks: a period, a
question mark, and an exclamation point.
Ask your students to look around the room and signal when they locate a punctuation mark.
Signals can include standing up or raising a hand.
After all three punctuation marks have been located, tell your students that they're going to
be learning more about how to use those three different punctuation marks.

Get more lesson plans at www.education.com/lesson-plans/

Explicit Instruction/Teacher Modeling (10 minutes)
Explain to your class that sentences can be used to tell, ask, or exclaim. Using a single
topic, such as ice cream, model the process of writing a different sentence for each of the
three punctuation marks. For example: What's your favorite flavor? Ice cream has milk. I like
ice cream!
After writing each sentence, hold up the corresponding large cut-out.
After holding up the period, explain that a period is used at the end of a "telling" sentence.
After holding up the question mark, display the Question Words poster. Explain that a
question mark is used at the end of an "asking" sentence. The words on the poster are often
used in "asking" sentences.
After holding up the exclamation point, explain that an exclamation point is used at the
end of an "exclaiming" sentence in order to show a strong feeling. Ask your students to
share some examples of times when they might use an exclamation point.
Display the Teacher Modeling poster at the front of the classroom so that your students can
reference the examples for the remainder of the lesson.

Guided Practice/Interactive Modeling (10 minutes)

Take out the three punctuation marks that were originally used for “I Spy” and initial
modeling.
Tell the students that they are now going to practice using punctuation marks with
sentences from the lunchroom. Prior to beginning the next step, have your students to share
different ideas about the lunchroom. Guide the students in turning their ideas into telling,
asking, and exclaiming sentences. For example: The lunchroom has twenty tables. Does
the lunchroom have chairs?
Invite your students to select the appropriate punctuation mark for each sentence. Next,
utilizing the sentences from the Lunchroom Punctuation worksheet (written onto individual
sentence strips), have your students practice putting the correct punctuation mark at the end
of each sentence. Invite your students to use the large punctuation marks from the
beginning of the lesson to complete the ending of each sentence.

Independent Working Time (10 minutes)

Tell your students that they will now practice using punctuation marks on their own.
Distribute the Punctuation Fill-In worksheet.
Circulate around the room to help individual students as needed.

Get more lesson plans at www.education.com/lesson-plans/

Extend
Differentiation
Enrichment: Give your students the Sentence Scramble worksheet and manipulatives.
Have them use word manipulatives to create two types of sentences with the same words,
and then direct them to write the sentences they made on the worksheet.
Support: Guide your students through a shared writing exercise, creating three different
sentences with the individual punctuation marks. Have your students write the sentences
on sentence strips. At the end of each sentence, have your students use a glitter pen to form
the corresponding punctuation mark.

Technology Integration
Using Google Draw, have students create a drawing that could be used to formulate three
different kinds of sentences with one topic.

Related Books and/or Media

Punctuation Takes a Vacation by Robin Pulver
VIDEO: Punctuation Explained (stop at 0:48)
VIDEO: The Sentence Song

Get more lesson plans at www.education.com/lesson-plans/

Review
Assessment (10 minutes)
Distribute one set of individual punctuation marks per child.
Using the first three sentences from the Punctuation Fill-In worksheet, display example
sentences on the board.
After reading each sentence, ask your students to hold up the punctuation mark that should
be used at the end of the selected sentence.

Review and Closing (10 minutes)

Play “Punctuation Charades” with your class. Instruct your students to use their bodies to
represent the punctuation mark that matches the end of the sentence.
Display or read the following three sentences, one at a time: Great job on your work! It is
raining outside. Where is your pencil?
After each sentence, invite your students to use a body motion to represent a punctuation
mark. To represent a period, have your students curl up into balls on the floor. To represent
an exclamation mark, have them jump in the air once and then curl up into balls. To
represent a question mark, direct your students to move their arms in the shape of the
question mark.

Copyright © 2006 - 2015 Education.com, Inc. All rights reserved.

Get more lesson plans at www.education.com/lesson-plans/