Perfect Punctuation

Practicing Perfect Punctuation is made really appealing when students design their own challenging games. Engage language learning that's sure to hit the mark!

• 1.

  How sure are you about when to use which punctuation? After you have had some practice using correct punctuation, you're ready to make a game to challenge each other's skills.

• 2.

  With two or three of your classmates, design a board game to help you use Perfect Punctuation. What punctuation marks will you use? What game strategies could make the game interesting? Will the game have a theme? Agree on the basic design of the game before you start to make it.

• 3.

  On white foam board, use Crayola® Washable Markers and Crayola Colored Pencils to draw a game path from start to finish (or whatever strategies your game will use). Colorfully decorate your entire board.

• 4.

  Make game pieces with Crayola Model Magic. Shape periods, exclamation points, commas, and question marks. Colons, quotation marks, and semicolons could make the game even more challenging. (And what about parentheses or brackets?)

• 5.

  Use Model Magic to make dice and any decorations for your game such as a swamp or a bridge. Are there punctuation marks on the dice? Dots? Colors? Air dry game pieces overnight.

• 6.

  Glue stationary pieces to your game board using Crayola School Glue. Air dry flat.

• 7.

  Cut out cards from recycled file folders or posterboard if your game needs these. Write instructions or sentences on the cards with colored pencils.

• 8.

  Spell out directions for your game. Who goes first? How to players move forward? How do players demonstrate their knowledge of Perfect Punctuation?

• 9.

  Try out your game. Make any changes needed so that it's fun to play — and challenging. Then exchange games with classmates and play Perfect Punctuation. As you learn more punctuation marks, add them to your game.

Benefits

• Students practice using various punctuation marks correctly, such as periods, commas, questions marks, and exclamation points.
• Students work in small groups to design a punctuation board game and create all the pieces for the game.
• Students test their own game, make any revisions, then exchange games with classmates to play.

Adaptations

• Younger students could draw punctuation marks on the cards. To move, player identifies the punctuation mark.
• Older students could make cards with sentences that are missing punctuation. To move spaces, player must tell the correct punctuation.
• The game might include direction cards such as go ahead 3 spaces, go back, or stay in one spot until a certain card is drawn or number is thrown.
• Students with special needs may want to use another board game as a template for choosing strategies. Use adaptive technology as needed so students can make and play the game as independently as possible.