Jessica Evans

Go Ahead--Say What You Feel!!

Rationale: To improve children’s comprehension and fluency through the recognition and proper usage of punctuation throughout texts.

Materials:  Today I Feel Silly and Other Moods That Make My Day by Jamie Lee Curtis, paper, pencil and die cuts of punctuation marks (question marks, periods, and exclamation points).

Procedure:

1.                   I AM GOING TO SAY ONE SENTENCE TWO DIFFERENT WAYS TO YOU, AND I WANT YOU TO LISTEN CAREFULLY AND TELL ME WHICH SENTENCE TOLD YOU HOW I WAS FEELING.  Sentence One:  I AM SO HAPPY TO BE HERE.  (I will say this in a monotone voice.)  Sentence Two:  I AM SO HAPPY TO BE HERE!  (I will say this with expression.)  YOU WERE ABLE TO TELL HOW I WAS FEELING FROM THE SECOND WAY THAT I SAID IT BECAUSE I USED EXPRESSION.  WE ARE GOING TO LEARN HOW TO USE EXPRESSION WHEN WE READ AND WRITE TO HELP US FEEL WHAT WE READ.

2.                  IF I WERE TO WRITE THAT SENTENCE ON THE BOARD WITHOUT ANY FEELING OR EXPRESSION, IT WOULD LOOK LIKE THIS.  (I will write the sentence with a period.)  BUT IF I WANT THE READER TO FEEL THE WAY THAT I AM FEELING, I WILL WRITE IT WITH AN EXCLAMATION POINT ON THE END TO LET THE READER KNOW THAT I AM EXCITED. 

3.                  We will have a brief lesson on the three types of punctuation and how they affect the way that we read sentences.  I will write sentences on the board demonstrating how each punctuation mark is used and how to use appropriate expression when we see them.

4.                  We will read Today I Feel Silly and Other Moods That Make My Day aloud using expression.  Afterwards, I will hand each student a question mark, period, and exclamation point to use for our activity.  I will read a selected sentence from the book, and the students will hold up the appropriate punctuation mark for that sentence according to the expression used when I read it. 

5.                  The students will then be asked to make up their own sentences using at least one of each of the three punctuations that we discussed.  This will allow for assessment of their understanding of punctuation and expression. 

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