A Fresh Approach to Teaching Punctuation: Helping Young Writers Use Conventions with Precision and Purpose

by Janet Angelillo

How do you teach punctuation in a way that students remember and apply to their own writing? With these mini-lessons, and partner and small-group activities, students catch on to the power of punctuation by looking at how favorite authors use it and by noticing it in advertising, newspapers, and all kinds of text. The author shares great ideas for using picture books and big books, chapter books and more for learning about commas, capitalization,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0439222451
• ISBN13: 9780439222457
• Release Date: July 2002
• Publisher: Teaching Resources
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 7.2" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 10 years and under
• Grade Range: Grades 2 to 5

Customer Reviews

Best Practices In Action

Janet Angelillo scores a home run in this stellar teaching resource book that is bound to inspire teachers to discard old-fashioned methods of teaching punctuation (worksheets, skill and drill) in favor of those found in this book. The text is filled with ideas for lessons that will motivate, challenge, and create independent writers who use punctuation--sophisticated punctuation--with ease. Chocked full of ready-to-use mini-lessons that feature a variety of texts for students to examine, they learn how powerful punctuation can be in making the meaning of their writing clear. Angelillo makes it possible for every teacher to put into practice what research and best practices has been saying for a long time: We learn to write and use conventions in the context of real writing, not from worksheets. And best of all, she doesn't just tell you, she shows you how. This is an important book for every writing teacher to read and use with students of all ages.

Teach punctuation the Writer's Workshop way!

This is an outstanding book on teaching punctuation while your kids are engaged in authentic, meaningful writing. The author provide excellent and practical suggestions for a year-long study, gives details on the first(introductory), study, and explains how to weave punctuation study into your literature-based program. Your students WILL become punctuation fanatics--they will notice and attend to punctuation like you wouldn't believe. The only downside is that you might see their writing go crazy for a while on commas, colons, and dashes. What a refreshing change for you and your students! If you are doing Writer's Workshop with your students you need this book.

Fantastic! A smart, sensible approach...

This is the first book I've read that encourages us to teach punctuation by looking at high-quality writing and easing into the rules. Kids not only learn how to puncutate their papers correctly, but also how to use punctuation to enhance their ideas.