End
Marks-Periods
Robert
C Burkhart
Purpose: The purpose
of this mini-lesson is to highlight to the student the usage of periods. In a sixth grade classroom many emerging
writers do not have a complete grasp of end punctuation. This lesson will review and reinforce the use
of periods.
Standards and
Objectives:
North Carolina Sixth
Grade Standard Course of Study
Competency goals 6.01 and
6.02 will be addressed with this lesson.
NCTE National Standards
for English Language Arts
Standard number six will
be addressed in this mini-lesson.
Resources:
Dry erase board or
overhead can be used to illustrate examples as the lesson progresses and one
handout per student in the class.
Procedure:
Time Needed
This lesson should take
approximately 15 minutes.
Script:
Teacher: During
today’s mini-lesson we will cover the use of periods. There are many uses for a period. Periods are used to tell the reader that a
complete thought or sentence has been ended.
Periods are used at the end of a statement, a mild command, or a polite
request. For example, Please
bring me a glass of water. Someone give
me an example of a polite request or mild command?
Class: Varying
responses.
Teacher: Periods are
used after indirect questions. I wonder
who mailed that letter. As opposed to
the direct question of who mailed that letter?
Give an example of an indirect question.
Class: Varying
responses.
Teacher: Good. Periods
are used in abbreviations at the end of a sentence that is ended by an
abbreviation. For example He ran at 6:00
a.m. Other examples of abbreviations are Mr., Mrs., Ms., Mar., Apr., Tues.,
Gov., Sen.
Write out four
abbreviations yourself and share them with the class. (waiting)
Class: Shares their examples
Teacher: Great,
periods are used in peoples names as well for example
T. W. Smith. It is important that we space between the
period and the next initial or letter.
W. C. Fields, Sen. E. Dole. Do
you see what I am saying? Give some
examples yourself. (wait)
Class: Sharing
examples
Teacher: We do not use
a space in abbreviations that stand for more than one word such as U.S., B.C.,
A.D., Ph.D and so on and so forth. Show me some examples of abbreviations like
these.
Class: Sharing their
examples.
Teacher: Finally do
not use periods with words formed from initials and pronounced as words
(acronyms) or with abbreviated names of government agencies, corporations, and
other entities. Examples are IBM, NATO,
UN, CIA, and so
on and so forth. Give us examples of
some of these abbreviations you have seen before.
Class: sharing ideas etc...
Teacher: (Handing out the handout) Let’s
complete this handout of examples of period usage. (gives time to
complete and monitors the class)
Class: Working on
the handout
Conclusion:
Teacher: This lesson
should have highlighted the use of periods.
You should be able to write more clearly and avoid errors with respect
to period usage from now on.
Provide four examples of
indirect questions. Ex.
I wonder who ran through there.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Give four examples of a
mild command or polite request.
Ex. Please give
me a glass of water.
1.
2.
3.
4.
In the space below give
ten abbreviations that you commonly see.
In the
space below use periods in the abbreviated names of your family.
R. C.
Burkhart for instance.
Father-
Mother-
Sibling-
Grandfather-
Grandmother-