Conventions #3 - Short Paragraph

VITAL INFORMATION

Subject Matter:

Elementary, Writing

Grades:

1

Software Application:

StarOffice Writer, or any word processing program

LESSON DESCRIPTION

Summary:

Students will edit a short paragraph for capital letters and end punctuation marks.

State & National Standards:

CO- Colorado Academic Standards

• Subject : Reading and Writing

• Standard 2: Students write and speak for a variety of purposes and audiences

Writing and speaking are essential tools for learning, for success in the workplace, and for responsible citizenship. Developing a range of writing and speaking abilities requires extensive study, practice, and thinking. Students need frequent opportunities to write and speak for different audiences and purposes, and they need to be able to communicate expressively, informatively, and analytically. Growth in writing and speaking abilities occurs by applying skills to increasingly challenging communication tasks

• Grade/Level : Grades K-4

 Performance Indicator : revising and editing speech and writing

 Performance Indicator : creating readable documents with legible handwriting or word processing at the appropriate time• Standard 3: Students write and speak using conventional grammar, usage, sentence structure, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling

Students need to know and be able to use standard English. Proficiency in this standard plays an important role in how the writer or speaker is understood and perceived. All skills in this standard are reinforced and practiced at all grade levels and should be monitored by both the teacher and student to develop lifelong learning skills

• Grade/Level : Grades K-4

 Performance Indicator : knowing and using correct capitalization, punctuation, and abbreviations

Local Standards:

District 12 Technology Standards:

Students use technology tools to enhance learning, increase productivity, and promote creativity.

- Uses the keyboard to enter text.

- Uses special function keys such as: enter/return, spacebar, shift, delete, backspace, numbers, letters, and punctuation.

- Uses the backspace/delete key to edit text.

Lesson Outcomes:

Given a short paragraph, students will be able to edit the sentences using capitals and end punctuation marks correctly.

Assessment:

This is the third lesson in a four-lesson unit. Formal assessment will take place at the end of the unit.

Student paragraphs will be assessed for correctness of capital letters and end punctuation, using the Conventions section of the attached rubric.

 

CLASSROOM & TIME MANAGEMENT

Student Prerequisites:

Students should have basic word processing skills. They should also have completed Conventions Lessons #1 and #2, as each lesson builds on the previous ones.

Lesson Preparation:

The teacher should prepare a short paragraph to model for students, as well as a paragraph of errors for the students to correct. These may be printed and given to each student for re-typing if you want to give students practice keyboarding, or the file could be loaded into each student's file folder on the server if you are working on computer editing skills.

Time Frame:

1 class period. 30 Min. per class.

Implementation Steps:

1. In the computer lab, the teacher models editing a short paragraph, separating the thoughts into sentences, adding capital letters and correct end punctuation.

2. The teacher provides students with another paragraph to retype or edit for capitals and end punctuation.

3. Students edit the paragraph by deleting/adding characters so that the paragraph makes sense.

4. Students review their work and print the finished paragraph.

RESOURCES

Lesson Resources:

Attached is a sample at the first grade level. The lesson can be adapted for higher grades by changing the complexity of the sentences and the punctuation marks.

Attachments:

 1.  Sample for Modeling and Editing

STUDENT PRODUCT(S)

Product(s) Description:

Attached is an example of student work.

Attachments:

 1.  First Grade Student Work

REFLECTION

Comments:

To give students more practice with editing on the computer, I loaded the sample paragraph into each student's work folder. When I do this again, I will do it both ways so students get keyboarding practice too. If typing the text, not all first graders will be able to finish in one 30-minute period.

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Conventions Lesson #3

Short Paragraph

Correct the following paragraph by adding capital letters and punctuation:

pizza is my favorite food i like it with pepperoni what do you like on your pizza i even eat pizza for breakfast

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Conventions Lesson #3

Short Paragraph

Name: Student Sample

Pizza is my favorite food. I like it with pepperoni. What do you like on your pizza? I even eat pizza for breakfast!

Developed under a grant from Sun Microsystems, Inc. Open Gateways at Mountain View

Elementary School by Steve Gandy, Technology Coordinator - mountain.adams12.org/TISS

© 2003