{"id":679,"date":"2014-12-05T04:55:28","date_gmt":"2014-12-05T11:55:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/?page_id=679"},"modified":"2015-07-06T17:04:57","modified_gmt":"2015-07-06T23:04:57","slug":"punctuation-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/punctuation-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Punctuation Games"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Our

Our Daughter Louisa<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

I’ve always found language arts workbooks dreadful. I know some children like doing them, but I love English and those workbooks seem to reduce a rich, lovely language to a dull, fill-in-the-blank exercise. I like to make things into a game. \u00a0So, when it comes to learning punctuation skills, I am all about learning them through an interactive game. <\/strong>Here’s how we learn the punctuation symbols and how to use them in my homeschool:<\/p>\n

Punctuation Game<\/span><\/h4>\n

Get a stack of 3 x 5″ blank index cards and write a punctuation symbol on each card<\/strong>, including period, comma, question mark, exclamation point, hyphen, colon and so forth. If a child is old enough to write well, he should make his own set. You’ll need a stack too. They should look something like this:<\/p>\n

\"punctuationgames\"<\/p>\n

Now, seat your children apart, facing you<\/strong> and not each other so they are not able to see each other’s cards easily. For starters, just use the cards with the period, question mark and exclamation mark. Set others aside.<\/p>\n

Explain the differences in how a sentence sounds<\/strong> when it ends with each of these punctuation marks. For example, read this sentence without emotion<\/strong>:
\nMary bakes bread.<\/em>
\nShow the card with the period symbol on it and explain that this sentence ends with a period. You can hear ending punctuation. A sentence ending in a period sounds even and somewhat monotone.<\/p>\n

Now read this sentence, with a questioning sound<\/strong>:
\nIs Mary baking bread?<\/em>
\nShow the card with the question mark and ask your students to listen for the lilt at the end of the sentence. You can hear the question mark.<\/p>\n

Now read this with excitement<\/strong>:
\nMary is burning the bread!<\/em>
\nHold up the exclamation point card. Ask the students how they can tell the sentence needs an exclamation point.<\/p>\n

Now it is time to play the game:<\/strong><\/p>\n

You read a sentence. At the end of each sentence, pause and let your children hold up the index card that they think belongs at the end of the sentence. Since they are sitting side-by-side, they will not be able to see each other\u2019s cards easily. Once they have displayed their cards to you, if there is an error, ask one of the students, \u201cWhy did you choose that one?\u201d By defending their decision, the child with the error will usually understand and change cards.<\/p>\n

Here’s some sentences to get you started. You’ll think of more fun sentences to use as you go along. You read the sentence, Mom, and then hold up the appropriate punctuation card.<\/p>\n

1. Ouch! I stubbed my toe!<\/em><\/p>\n

2. Today is Tuesday.<\/em><\/p>\n

3. I love to go to the beach!<\/em><\/p>\n

4. Are you sleeping?<\/em><\/p>\n

5. The paper is on the table.<\/em><\/p>\n

6. Are you finished yet?<\/em><\/p>\n

7. It’s my birthday!<\/em><\/p>\n

8. When is dinner?<\/em><\/p>\n

9. I don’t know.<\/em><\/p>\n

10. I hope we have ice cream!<\/em><\/p>\n

Now try making up a little story:<\/strong><\/p>\n

One day Jane and Peter went into their backyard.\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0(pause)<\/div>\n
(Children hold up their cards with periods [.] on them)<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Their rabbit cage was unlocked and their bunny was gone!<\/em>\u00a0(pause)<\/div>\n
(Children hold up their exclamation mark\u00a0[!]\u00a0\u00a0cards. Ask one of the children \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Child replies, \u201cBecause it shows\u00a0excitement or danger!\u201d)<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The children ran around the yard looking for their bunny.\u00a0<\/em>(pause)<\/div>\n
(Children hold up their period\u00a0[.]\u00a0\u00a0cards.)<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Where could it have gone?\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0(pause)<\/div>\n
(Children hold up their cards with question marks\u00a0[?]\u00a0\u00a0on them.)<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Suddenly, Peter felt something fuzzy rubbing on his leg!\u00a0<\/em>(pause)<\/div>\n
(Children hold up their cards with exclamation marks\u00a0\u00a0[!]\u00a0\u00a0on them.)<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Hurrah!<\/em>\u00a0(pause)<\/div>\n
(Children hold up their cards with exclamation marks\u00a0[!]\u00a0on them.)<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Now, how did Fluffy ever get that cage open?<\/em>\u00a0(pause)<\/div>\n
(Children hold up their cards with question marks\u00a0[?]\u00a0on them.)<\/div>\n

A quick round at the beginning of school time will make your children practically geniuses when it comes to punctuating a sentence. <\/strong>You can increase the difficulty quickly by requiring them to hold up 2 cards per sentence.<\/p>\n

After your kids have mastered this game, add additional punctuation mark cards, and explain their use to your children.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Try this:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Add a hyphen mark card [-], which is used in words that are linked together, specifically numbers, such as thirty-four<\/em>. Also use a hyphen to join words that act together to describe the noun, such as one-way street, well-known person, chocolate-covered raisins,<\/em> when the describing words come right before a noun.<\/p>\n

I am twenty-one.<\/em>
\n(Children hold up both the hyphen card\u00a0\u00a0[-].)<\/p>\n

Are you eating a raspberry-filled doughnut?<\/em>
\n(Use a hyphen [-] and a question mark[?].<\/p>\n

Say this one with drama:
\nThe thief stole my gold-plated trophy!<\/em>
\n(Use a hyphen [-] and exclamation point[!])<\/p>\n

Let’s add a capitalization game!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Write one word from the list below on an index card, all in lower case letters. Stack the cards face down in a pile. Take turns drawing a card, reading the word and deciding if it needs to start with a capital letter. If so, the player can keep the card, adding each card to his column as the game progresses. Cards that contain a word not requiring a capital letter are discarded face down next to the draw pile. The winner is the player with the most words needing capital letters. (Actually the winner is every child who learns capitalization and every mother who can teach it in a fun way that children can remember!)<\/em><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Here are the words to write on index cards, using all lower case letters, so your child has to decide whether or not the word should be capitalized.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
beach<\/div>\n
hawaii*<\/div>\n
dog<\/div>\n
christmas*<\/div>\n
sally (use your child\u2019s name)*<\/div>\n
september*<\/div>\n
california*<\/div>\n
letter<\/div>\n
piano<\/div>\n
mozart*<\/div>\n
cake<\/div>\n
computer<\/div>\n
pencil<\/div>\n
crayon<\/div>\n
united states*<\/div>\n
country<\/div>\n
cocker spaniel*<\/div>\n
john*<\/div>\n
book<\/div>\n
boat<\/div>\n
los angeles*<\/div>\n
daily herald*<\/div>\n
newspaper<\/div>\n
kleenex* (it is a brand name, so it is capitalized normally)<\/div>\n
january*<\/div>\n
birthday<\/div>\n
…add more words of \u00a0your own.<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

To your punctuation success!<\/strong>
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

May I recommend:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n

\"grammarpig\"
\nReady…Set…Grammar!
\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

\"homeschooling_0034_ammonemily98\"
\nWriting in My Homeschool
\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

\"13921\"
\nEditor in Chief
\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve always found language arts workbooks dreadful. I know some children like doing them, but I love English and those workbooks seem to reduce a rich, lovely language to a dull, fill-in-the-blank exercise. I like to make things into a game. \u00a0So, when it comes to learning punctuation skills, I am all about learning them […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15,9],"tags":[98],"class_list":["post-679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-language-arts-articles","category-what-articles","tag-punctuation","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/birthdayclubimagesmall-e1428964764409.jpg?fit=194%2C236&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6IrRN-aX","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2134,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/teaching-an-older-child-to-write\/","url_meta":{"origin":679,"position":0},"title":"Teaching an Older Child to Write","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a 9th grade daughter that really struggles in writing. She does not like writing so it has always been a battle and I have not pushed it nearly enough. Now I find she is really behind in writing and I am feeling panicked because writing is so\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "What"","block_context":{"text":"What","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/what-articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photoxpress_4560323-150x150","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/Photoxpress_4560323-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":265,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/writing-in-my-homeschool\/","url_meta":{"origin":679,"position":1},"title":"Writing in My Homeschool","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Come take a peek inside my homeschool. Here's how I teach writing! And it works\u2014one of my sons got a perfect score on the English portion of the ACT test for college. Journal Writing Each day I expect my students to write a journal entry. I use the number of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "English: Writing"","block_context":{"text":"English: Writing","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/what-articles\/english-writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"emily_journals","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/emily_journals-234x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":528,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/poor-writing\/","url_meta":{"origin":679,"position":2},"title":"Poor Writing","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I could use some insights on how to get my kids to turn out better quality book reports and just writing in general.\u00a0 My oldest is in 6th grade and the next child is in 3rd grade, and here we've done grammar and writing year after year and yet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "What"","block_context":{"text":"What","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/what-articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photoxpress_44768981-300x199","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Photoxpress_44768981-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":553,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/teach-children-to-write\/","url_meta":{"origin":679,"position":3},"title":"Teaching Children to Write the Natural Way","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"I would like to share with you some of the things we\u2019ve done in our homeschool that have really worked so well over the years. Teaching my children to write\u00a0 has been a joy to teach, and any mother can easily do it without any expensive program. I start when\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "What"","block_context":{"text":"What","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/what-articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"My daughter Louisa has kept her school journals since she was 4 years old. What a treasure they are now! A whole childhood recorded.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/louisakto6.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1761,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/asking-why\/","url_meta":{"origin":679,"position":4},"title":"Asking Why","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cWhy do I have to do this English page, Mom?\u201d Why do you teach your children Language Arts? What are you hoping to accomplish? What is the goal, the end of the road? It is so essential for me to keep that end-of-the-road milepost in constant remembrance! Without it, we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Molding the Heart"","block_context":{"text":"Molding the Heart","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/why-homeschool\/molding-the-heart\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"3kidstreelarge","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/3kidstreelarge-239x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1735,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/spoonful-of-sugar\/","url_meta":{"origin":679,"position":5},"title":"A Spoonful of Sugar: My Philosophy of Homeschooling","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"I am often asked about my philosophy of homeschooling. I have come to think Mary Poppins knew best, when she told the children that, \u201ca spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down, in the most delightful way!\u201d I truly don\u2019t think learning could ever be as nasty to take\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "How to Homeschool"","block_context":{"text":"How to Homeschool","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/how-to-homeschool\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/DSCN0001-1.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/DSCN0001-1.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/DSCN0001-1.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=679"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7370,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679\/revisions\/7370"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}