LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Goal 5

The learner will apply grammar and language conventions to communicate effectively.

Objective 5.01

Use correct capitalization (e.g., geographical place names, holidays, special events, titles) and punctuation (e.g., commas in greetings, dates, city and state; underlining book titles; periods after initials and abbreviated titles; apostrophes in contractions).

Resources aligned to this objective

Appositive Action
Appositives are descriptive phrases, set off by commas, that modify a noun or noun phrase. Using appositives helps writers create sentences that are smoother and less choppy. In this lesson, students will learn to combine 2 or more descriptive sentences and action sentences into one sentence with an appositive phrase.
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)
By DPI Writing Strategies.
Positively Poetry: Part 6
Students will be learning about and writing limericks. Since limericks follow a strict rhyming pattern and word count, the students will work in partners to create their own limericks.
Format: lesson plan (grade 3 Information Skills, English Language Arts, and Computer Technology Skills)
By Maribeth Warren, Pam Purifoy, and Tracy Dagenhart.
Postcards of the Past
Students will participate in Heritage Day activities that will enhance students' awareness of their heritage. They will take digital pictures of activities to include on a web page, and research and report on information gathered. Students will create a web page to present their information.
Format: lesson plan (grade 3 Information Skills, English Language Arts, and Social Studies)
By Karol Leaptrott, Rebecca Watt, and Regina Welsted.
Stop That Run-On!
Run-on sentences inhibit understanding and weaken someone's writing. In this lesson, students will learn to identify run-on sentences and how to fix them. They will then apply those skills to their own writing.
Format: lesson plan (grade 1–4 English Language Arts)
By DPI Writing Strategies.
Word Processing Valentines
This lesson combines the need to practice keyboarding skills, completion of rhymes, a popular children's book, and the motivational aspects of the Valentine holiday.
Format: lesson plan (grade 3 English Language Arts and Computer Technology Skills)
By Kay Harrison.

Lesson plans on the web

All about our town: Using brochures to teach informational writing
In this lesson, students create brochures that explore their towns and the landmarks, symbols, and people that make them unique places to live. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
Building classroom community through the exploration of acrostic poetry
This lesson builds classroom community by engaging students in a collaborative acrostic poetry writing project. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
Dancing minds and shouting smiles: Teaching personification through poetry
In this lesson, students learn about personification by reading and discussing poems by Emily Dickinson, William Blake, and Langston Hughes. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
Dear Librarian: Writing a persuasive letter
Inspired by the actions in Beverly Cleary’s book Emily’s Runaway Imagination, in this lesson plan, students write to their school librarian, requesting that a specific text be added to the library collection. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
How-to writing: Motivating students to write for a real purpose
In this lesson, students write “how-to” essays for a specific audience. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
Let freedom ring: The life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Students investigate the life of Martin Luther King Jr. through biographies, photos, and speeches. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 Information Skills and English Language Arts)
Provider: National Endowment for the Humanities
Letter poems deliver: Experimenting with line breaks in poetry writing
Students transform narrative-style letters into poetry in this lesson that explores the poetic devices of rhythm, sound, meaning, and appearance. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
Our classroom: Writing an owner's manual
This lesson helps to establish a sense of community with students collaboratively writing an “owner’s manual” that describes expectations and guidelines for the classroom. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
Q is for duck: Using alphabet books with struggling writers
This lesson introduces pattern writing to students by challenging them to examine the structures of various alphabet books in order to create individual pages for a collaborative book project. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
Using picture books to teach plot development and conflict resolution
This lesson invites students to examine the craft of developing a story’s plot and resolution of a story’s conflict through focused experiences with picture books. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
Using "Snowflake Bentley" as a framing text for multigenre writing
Using the Caldecott Medal winning picture book Snowflake Bentley as a model, students create multi-genre projects about winter. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
Using web-based bookmarks to conduct Internet research
In this lesson, students mimic the poetic form of The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown and then use Internet bookmarks, created by the teacher, to research and write about a specific topic. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 2–3 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
Who's got mail? Using literature to promote authentic letter writing
This brief activity uses literature and shared writing to teach letter-writing format and promote authentic letter writing. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE