Frog and Toad Teach Punctuation

How do you teach your students the rules associated with punctuating dialogue?

I mean, are they important to know? Can we ignore them?

I have The Jesus Storybook Bible within reach. Let's see how dialogue looks without punctuation. Hang on!

Saul! Saul! said the loud voice. Why are you fighting me? Lord? Saul answered who are you? I am Jesus said the voice. When you hurt my friends, you are hurting me, too. Saul's whole body trembled. Go to the city Jesus said I'll tell you what to do.

That obviously won't work. We need the rules for clarity.

But how do we teach them without crushing our students with tedium?

What about using Frog and Toad Are Friends, an easy reader by Arnold Lobel?

That sounds random, I know. The idea developed when I read that a professor teaches punctuation with Lobel's book. I don't know what his or her method is; I don't know the age group the professor teaches. An Internet search produced nothing. But the notion intrigued me. I borrowed a copy of the book from my library to see if I could get into the mind of that professor.

The first thing I noticed was the dialogue. I looked at Frog's and Toad's lines, trying to find a pattern in their structure.

I found six categories.

Category 1: Said first
Toad said, "Frog, you are looking quite green."

Category 2: Said last
"Today you look very green even for a frog," said Toad.

Category 3: Said in the Middle of a Sentence
"Then you get out of bed and let me get into it," said Toad, "because now I feel terrible."

Category 4: Said in the Middle of Two Sentences
"Don't worry," said Frog. "We will go back to all the places where we walked. We will soon find your button."

Category 5: An Exclamation
"Here is your button!" cried Frog.

Category 6: A Question
"Does Toad really look funny in his bathing suit?" they asked.

With those categories, I designed an assignment for students.

My objectives:

• Students will connect rules to real reading.
• Students will stretch their observation skills as they search for and evaluate the various categories of dialogue.
• Students will apply what they learn to their own sentences.
• As a bonus, students will write rules they observe.

You can treat the papers as a worksheet, or you can cut around the six rectangles and paste them in a Writer's Reference notebook.

You will find the sheets here. If you find them helpful, will you please let me know?

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Woe Is I, Jr. Lessons: Chapter 10

I have written lessons to accompany Woe Is I, Jr., a grammar handbook for kids. You can read my introductory comments here.

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9

1.   Read chapter 10.

2.   Write a news story about a current, historical, or imaginary event. Incorporate the punctuation marks highlighted by you and your teacher on the Punctuation Checklist.

3.   If you need to be convinced of the importance of punctuation marks, read Lynn Truss’s picture books Eats, Shoots and Leaves, Twenty-Odd Ducks, and The Girl’s Like Spaghetti.

4.   Watch this video for fun.

5.   Practice punctuating with commas by completing the interactive exercises or handouts for commas at www.chompchomp.com.

6. Please consider sharing your news story in the comments.

Go to Lesson 11.

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Finding Patterns in Punctuation

Grammar in context is explained beautifully in this teacher's reflections on a punctuation lesson. She includes a handout, so you can use the idea with your students, too!

Grammar Fun: Punctuation

Grammar Fun: Commas

Grammar Fun: Commas

Exclamation Mark

 

So I walked into the library to be inspired, and what was the first book that beckoned me?  A book with a smiling exclamation mark posing on the front cover!  I was immediately attracted to the book because, well, I majored in English. But it didn't take long to identify with this precious mark who begins the story, trying to fit in with the periods, and ends the book-- after a memorable encounter with a question mark--celebrating his newfound voice and purpose.

While your students are enjoying the witty text and celebrating !'s personal victory, they can absorb the roles of three important punctuation marks whom they may never see the same way again. (Did I just say "whom"?  Yikes. Personification is a powerful tool!)

Possible writing connection:
Ask your children to imagine and write a sequel to the book. Begin by encouraging them to brainstorm.  If they need guidance, ask questions, such as when and where do the punctuation marks meet again? What do they discuss? Who is the main character in the sequel? Once they have some ideas they like, writing may happily begin.

If your students do this assignment, please consider including it in the comments.

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Commas, Commas

 

 

 Commas are important!

If you question that statement, read Lynn Truss's picture book Eats, Shoots and Leaves. Each two-page spread has the same sentence. Well, each sentence has the same words, but the meanings are very different, depending on whether there are commas or not.

Here is one example:

"Look at that huge hot dog!"
"Look at that huge, hot dog!"

See the change in meaning just because of one seemingly inconsequential mark?

Here is a video with an example:

This book is simple, but it makes you think. In case you need a nudge to see the difference between the two sentences, the humorous illustrations and the explanations at the back of the book will help you.

Hand this book to your kids. Let it subtly convince them that commas really are important in conveying meaning.

Following the same pattern:

   

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Replace the Missing Punctuation

 

Type an excerpt—a paragraph or two, double-spaced—from any literature, excluding a specific punctuation mark you want to review or, if your student is ready for more extensive editing, removing all punctuation marks.  Instruct your student to be the editor, inserting the proper punctuation marks where appropriate. Compare with the original.

An Example from Johnny Tremain, page 43, without punctuation:

Weeks wore on September was ending a large part of every day Johnny spent doing what he called looking for work’ he did not really want to follow any trade but his own he looked down on soap-boilers leather-dressers ropemakers and such he did not begin his hunt along Hancock’s Wharf and Fish Street where he and his story were well known and the masters would have been apt to employ him from pity he went to the far ends of Boston

An Example from Johnny Tremain, page 43, with punctuation:

Weeks wore on. September was ending.  A large part of every day Johnny spent doing what he called ‘looking for work.’ He did not really want to follow any trade but his own. He looked down on soap-boilers, leather-dressers, ropemakers, and such. He did not begin his hunt along Hancock’s Wharf and Fish Street, where he and his story were well known and the masters would have been apt to employ him from pity. He went to the far ends of Boston.

Punctuation Takes a Vacation?

 

What would you do if punctuation marks the comma period question mark quotation mark and others left for a  vacation Or if, they! were running? wild"

Punctuation marks may seem random and headache-producing, but they are important in helping writers and readers communicate with each other. If they were absent or haphazard, reading would become a horrible chore.  I think my first "sentence" proves that, but if you--or your students--need a little more convincing, read Robin Pulver's fun book Punctuation Takes a Vacation and see both extremes.

Possible activities for students to do with this book:

• Read it!  (That's a good start.)
• After the punctuation marks are left in disbelief, they respond. Read their comments and observe the role each mark plays in the sentences.  What other roles do these marks have?
• Read aloud the letter in the blue box. Punctuate it.  Read it aloud again. How do the two readings compare?
• Look at the postcards the punctuation marks send from Take-a-Break Lake. Who wrote each of them?
• Read the letter from Mr. Wright's class to Punctuation. Do the poor class a favor and put the punctuation marks where they belong.
• Choose several punctuation marks and write postcards from each of them.
• Write a brief piece three times, one with no punctuation, one with misplaced punctuation, and one with correct punctuation. (Better yet, type it. It will be easier to copy, paste, and manipulate.)

Two excerpts from Punctuation Takes a Vacation

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Commas in a Series

When you have a series of three or more words or phrases in a sentence, you need a comma before the last piece of the series (unless, of course, you're British; then you don't include a comma there).

Remember to admire parallel structure (aka parallelism) in sentences with series.

"She would then take a newly finished quilt from her bag, wrap it around their quivering shoulders, tuck them in tight, and tiptoe away" (Jeff Brumbeau, The Quiltmaker's Gift).

"Avery put on clean underwear, clean blue jeans, and a clean shirt" (E. B. White, Charlotte's Web, 119).

The Tale of Despereaux being the story of a mouse, a princess, some soup, and a spool of thread (Kate DiCamillo)

"...Is it ridiculous for a very small, sickly, big-eared mouse to fall in love with a beautiful human princess named Pea?" (Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux, 32).

"Matt also replaced worn-out light bulbs, renewed washers in leaky faucets, carried trays for people who telephoned room service to order food sent to their rooms, and sometimes prevented children from hitting one another with croquet mallets on the lawn behind the hotel" (Beverly Cleary, The Mouse and the Motorcycle, 12). 

"Ralph was eager, excited, curious, and impatient all at once" (Beverly Cleary, The Mouse and the Motorcycle, 20).  

The Enormous Carrot by Vladimir Vagin would work well to teach the serial comma. One character after another tries to pull the carrot out of the ground until you get a list like this: "So Daisy, Floyd, Mabel, Henry, Gloria, Buster, Claire, and Lester tried together...."

For more mentor texts, go here.