Building Fluency with Punctuation

Second Grade Reading, ESL

This lesson focuses on how punctuation affects reading fluency and comprehension using graphic organizers
and sentence stems. Use this lesson as a stand-alone activity or a support for the Punctuation and Prosody
lesson plan.

Objectives

Objectives

Academic

Students will be able to read aloud with prosody.

Language

Students will be able to read a grade appropriate fictional text fluently with punctuation using graphic
organizers and sentence stems.

Materials and preparation Key terms

Projector, smart board, or document camera TIER 2

Copy of a fun punctuation book, such as
Twenty-Odd Ducks: Why, Every Punctuation dialogue: the things that are said by the characters
Mark Counts! by Lynne Truss and Bonnie in a story
Timmons
Class set + teacher copy of the Punctuate the prosody: the rhythm and pattern of sounds in
Story: The Lost Kitten worksheet language
Eight copies of the Frayer Model worksheet
Vocabulary Cards quotation marks: a pair of punctuation marks used
Glossary in writing to show that someone is talking
Teacher copy of the Teach Background
period: a dot used to show the end of a sentence
Knowledge Template
Teacher copy of the Write Student-Facing TIER 3
Language Objectives Reference
punctuation: the marks in a piece of writing that
make its meaning clear

comma: a punctuation mark used to separate words

or groups of words in a sentence

question mark: the punctuation mark that is used

after a question

exclamation point: a punctuation mark used to

show a strong or exciting way of speaking or feeling

Attachments

Punctuate the Story: The Lost Kitten (PDF)

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 Graphic Organizer Template: Frayer Model (PDF)
Vocabulary Cards: Building Fluency with Punctuation (PDF)
Glossary: Building Fluency with Punctuation (PDF)
Teach Background Knowledge Template (PDF)
Write Student-Facing Language Objectives Reference (PDF)

Introduction (2 minutes)

Ask students to define punctuation. Write examples on the board and briefly review when each are
used. Discuss how each form of punctuation affects the patterns of speaking, such as pauses and voice
changes. For example: "When you use a question mark, notice how your voice goes up at the end of the
sentence."
Tell students that they'll learn how to use punctuation as clues for reading aloud, and ask if they can tell
how your voice changes along with the meaning of the sentence when you read aloud using different
punctuation.

Building Academic Language

Word (10 minutes)

Present the vocabulary terms from the glossary and vocabulary cards. Use the visuals as you define each
word and allow students to discuss how the visual relates to the new word.
Complete a Frayer Model with the students for prosody, and check their comprehension throughout by
asking them to orally repeat the definition or provide examples.
Divide students into seven groups, and have each group complete a Frayer Model for an assigned
vocabulary word.
Allow students to create and share aloud their own sentences with the new vocabulary words. For
example: "I use question marks to show I need an answer to something."

Sentence (5 minutes)

Ask student volunteers to come up to the projector/smart board and circle the punctuation in their
sentences from the Frayer models. Then, have them share their sentences from the completed Frayer
Models aloud with prosody.

Discourse (15 minutes)

Distribute the Punctuate the Story: The Lost Kitten worksheet to students. Project your copy.
Ask students to follow along with their fingers as you read the story aloud without punctuation marks.
(Note: Read as one run-on sentence!)
Model adding punctuation to the story for two sentences.
Ask student volunteers to help you continue adding punctuation marks for another 1–2 more sentences.
Have students work in partnerships to complete the punctuation for all the sentences.
Review the correct punctuation for the worksheet as a class, adding it to your projected copy.
Keep your copy projected, and tell students they will now practice reading aloud with prosody.
Ask students to work in partnerships to read every other sentence with their best prosody. Remind them
to pause at commas, add quotation marks when a character is talking, etc.

Additional EL adaptations

BEGINNING

Provide students with definitions in both English and their home language (L1) if they are literate in their
home language.
Allow beginning EL students to form a small group that works with you.

ADVANCED

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 Encourage students to write their own sentences and read them aloud with prosody.

Formative Assessment of Academic Language (1 minute)

Get the attention of the whole class, and ask your students to show you their level of understanding of
prosody. Have students hold up one finger if they are still unsure and need more information. Students
who feel they have mastered the concept would hold up five fingers, and so on.
Circulate the room during partner work time, informally assessing prosody.
Collect the Punctuate the Story: The Lost Kitten worksheets to review for accuracy.
Student fluency should be noted for future small group work.

Review and closing (2 minutes)

Instruct students to turn to a partner to orally complete one of the following sentence stems:
Punctuation helps me read by ____.
Prosody is ____.
My favorite part of the lesson was ____.

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 Read the
Read the story
story and
and fill
fill in
in the
the proper
proper punctuation.
punctuation.

d
d
The Lost Kitten went straight to her mother May

One cold and rainy day Polly I please keep him she asked

was walking home from school Yes said her mother But you

Suddenly she heard a loud and must promise to take care of him

mournful cry Meow meow meow and feed him every day

She looked under a bush and Polly poured some warm milk

saw a little wet orange kitten into a bowl and put a soft pillow

Who do you belong to she in a basket for his bed

asked She picked up the kitten I will name you Fletcher

and snuggled him under her coat she said happily

When she got home Polly The End

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Name: ______________________________________________________ Date: ______________________________

Frayer Model
Directions: Write your vocabulary word in the “Vocabulary Term” oval. Complete the rest of the
sections for the vocabulary term in your own words.

Definition: Sentence:

Vocabulary Term:

Examples: Non-Examples:

Image Representation:

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Vocabulary Cards
EL Support Lesson plan: Building Fluency with Punctuation

dialogue prosody

the things that are said the rhythm and pattern

by the characters in a of sounds in language
story

punctuation quotation
marks
! ?“”
. , : ; “”
a pair of punctuation
the marks in a piece of marks used in writing to
writing that make its show that someone is
meaning clear talking

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Vocabulary Cards
EL Support Lesson plan: Building Fluency with Punctuation

comma period

, .
a punctuation mark
used to separate words a dot used to show the
or groups of words in a end of a sentence
sentence

question exclamation
mark point

? !
a punctuation mark
the punctuation mark used to show a strong
that is used after a or exciting way of
question speaking or feeling

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 Glossary for EL Support Lesson Plan:
Building Fluency with Punctuation

Word Definition Visual

the things that are said by

dialogue the characters in a story

the rhythm and pattern

prosody of sounds in language

punctuation
the marks in a piece of
writing that make ! ?“”
its meaning clear . , : ;

a pair of punctuation marks

quotation marks used in writing to show
that someone is talking “”

,
a punctuation mark
used to separate
comma words or groups of
words in a sentence

period a dot used to show

the end of a sentence
.
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 Glossary for EL Support Lesson Plan:
Building Fluency with Punctuation

Word Definition Visual

question mark
the punctuation mark
that is used after a question ?

!
a punctuation mark used to
exclamation point show a strong or exciting
way of speaking or feeling

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 Teach Background Knowledge
Lesson Topic:
Choose a topic from the main content
lesson that will help ELs understand the
main content lesson. Your non-ELs will
already have knowledge about this topic.

Total Lesson Time:

(20 - 30 minutes)

Student-Facing Language
Objective:
Example: I can learn new vocabulary
using pictures and sentence frames.

Student ELP Level(s):

Consider each student’s ELP level and
their academic strengths when choosing
scaffolds for the lesson.

Groupings (pairs, small-groups, a teacher-led group)

Potential Scaffolds: Word banks, word wall, and bilingual glossaries
Choose some of these material supports
Sentence frames, sentence stems, and paragraph frames
and instructional scaffolds based on each
EL’s individual strengths and needs. Home language materials
Reduced linguistic load, repetition, rephrasing and modeling
Practice new academic skills with familiar topics

Materials & Resources List

List the materials you’ll use in the lesson.

Key Vocabulary Words (5-8 words)

List the words with student-friendly
definitions in English. Provide
definitions in student’s home language
when appropriate.

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Introduction
Access EL’s prior knowledge about the
lesson topic with a brief comprehension
check.

Potential activities:
Creating captions for images
Opinionnaires
Carousel brainstorming
Conversations with sentence starters
Time estimate for Introduction
(3 - 5 minutes)

Explicit Instruction of
Background Knowledge
Model a learning activity that embeds
the teaching of academic language and
background knowledge.

Potential activities:
Lunch brunch discussion
Teacher-created, adjusted text and
questions
Brief videos or visuals
Text-based instruction
Home-language connections
Pre-teach a small number of
vocabulary words
Show real-world objects
Complete word family or bilingual
glossaries
Word walls or word bank creation

Time Estimate for Explicit Instruction

(4 - 6 minutes)

Guided Practice
Provide an opportunity for students (in
pairs or small groups) to practice the skill
or information taught during Explicit
Instruction, offering appropriate
scaffolds as needed.

Time Estimate for Guided Practice

(5 - 7 minutes)
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 Formative Assessment
Ask students to show comprehension of
new background knowledge and
associated skills through an oral or
written task. Provide appropriate
scaffolds dependent on their ELP level.

Potential assessments:
Act out concepts
Hands on tasks
Drawings, models, or graphs
Graphic organizer completion
Captions of images
Reading response or content
area logs
Retellings
Role plays
Audio or video recordings
Oral interviews

Time estimate for Assessment

(5 - 7 minutes)

Review and Closing

Refer to the student objective and relate
information to future lessons. Allow
students to share thoughts about
whether they reached their objective
and/or mention lingering questions.
Provide sentence stems or frames for their
discussion.

Time estimate for Review and Closing

(3 - 5 minutes)

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 Write Student-Facing Language Objectives
A student-facing language objective: A teacher-facing language objective:
begins with “I can...” begins with “Students will be able to...”
is designed to raise students' self-awareness of and is designed to raise students' self-awareness of and
promote their language development. promote their language development.
incorporates a language function, grammar structure, and incorporates a language function, grammar structure, and
supports or scaffolds. supports or scaffolds.
is easy to understand for students at all levels of is intended to guide the teacher’s lesson planning
English proficiency. and instruction.

Steps to convert a teacher-facing objective to a student-facing objective:

1. Replace “Students will be able to” with “I can.”
2. Simplify challenging words but maintain key vocabulary words you’ll address in the lesson.

Students will be able to describe a character with adjectives using graphic organizers.
Language Grammar Support/
Function Structure Scaffold

I can talk about a character with adjectives using graphic organizers.

Language Grammar Support/
Function Structure Scaffold

Language Functions Grammar Structures Supports/Scaffolds

locate create identify nouns adverbs graphic organizers sentence starters

show describe infer modals academic vocabulary teacher modeling strategic grouping
sort ask questions interpret verb forms adjectives word banks/walls home language supports
tell brainstorm collect conjunctions phrases
contrast classify compare sentence structure prepositions
pronouns complex sentences
comparatives
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