Punctuation: Commas

Age
6

Materials

 * Set B: Used to illustrate commas. It is constructed as for Set A. (As presented on Punctuation: Capital Letters and Periods).

Preparation
This is an individual presentation.

Presentation

 * 1) Bring the child’s attention to the commas by saying: “I see two little red marks. These are called ‘commas’. Can you say comma?”
 * 2) Have the child read the sentence. Bring to the child’s attention that the sentence is very long.
 * 3) Tell the child that commas tell us to pause just for a short breath by saying: “Sometimes in a very long sentence, we have to stop to take a breath. And we can take our breath whenever we see a comma.”
 * 4) Have the child read the sentence with these pauses.
 * 5) Bring the child’s attention to the words that come between the two comas. Tell the child that the words between the commas give us additional information.
 * 6) Tell the child that we can read the sentence without the words between the commas.
 * 7) Read the sentence without the words between the commas.
 * 8) Tell the child that although it makes sense, the words between the commas give us some additional information that helps us understand the sentence a little better.
 * 9) Have the child read the sentence again.
 * 10) Read all of the cards before putting them away.
 * 11) Take out the second set of cards.
 * 12) Lay out the commas in a row.
 * 13) Take one sentence at a time, help the child conversationally place each punctuation mark where needed.
 * 14) Have the child check his work against the first set.

Control Of Error
The sentence written with the correct punctuation written in red.

Purpose

 * To make the child aware of basic sentence punctuation.
 * To help the child write and read.