Punctuation

On a visit to Manchester Art Gallery students came across a piece of paper crumpled into a ball.
Why is it there? Is it a sculpture? What does it mean? Why did the artist make it?

A lesson plan for teachers to consolidate students’ punctuation skills. Students will be able to use punctuation to help the reader better understand what has been written.

Key Stage:

KS 2 English - Punctuation

Overview:

This lesson can be used to support students to:
- Propose changes to vocabulary, grammar and punctuation to enhance effects and clarify meaning
- Proof-read for spelling and punctuation errors
- Structure text
- Develop writing skills including narratives, dialogue and action
- Develop research and discussion skills
- Support pupils to assess the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing

Suggested Classroom Activity

Show your students the short film about the crumpled piece of paper.
Ask them to discuss the three questions at the end of the film:

Is Work No.88 a sculpture?
Why do you think the artist crumpled up a piece of paper?
What do you think the crumpled piece of paper means to people who look at it?

Commas,Hyphens, Apostrophes, Full stops

Ask your pupils to write a short answer to each of the 3 questions above. In their writing they need to include:
Commas
Hyphens
Apostrophes
Full stops

Share their answers with the class. Can their answers be improved?

Semi-colons

Ask your pupils to insert a semi-colon in the correct place in the sentence below.

Nikita is going to make a sculpture out of paper she might also make one out of wood.

Brackets

Ask your pupils to insert brackets in the correct place in the sentence below.

Nikita said that conceptual art such as the crumpled up piece of paper is challenging.

Question Mark, Exclamation Mark

Ask your pupils if these sentences end with a question mark or with an exclamation mark.

The students thought the sculpture was absolutely fantastic
Did the students think the sculpture was fantastic
Did the students like the sculpture
The students really, really loved the sculpture

Speech Marks

Ask your students to insert speech marks in the sentence below.

The crumpled piece of paper is important as it can make you feel happy or sad Nikita told the students.

Capital letters

Ask your pupils to circle each word that should begin with a capital letter.

the students visited manchester art gallery and saw a sculpture made by an artist called martin creed.

Test Your Learning

Your pupils have written an article about the sculpture for the school’s website. They will need to check spellings and add the correct punctuation marks. Every time they add a punctuation mark get them to cross it off the download sheet.

Development Activity:

Elsewhere on CultureStreet there is a creative writing workshop delivered by Seven Stories the Centre for the Children's Book in Newcastle upon Tyne which includes a number of exercises to help make writing easier.
Imaginative writing workshop

As well as the workshop there is a Creative Writing lesson relating to a mystery object that appears in Gateshead.
Creative Writing lesson plan

You might want your group to progress onto this lesson plan also about writing for a different audience based on a shipwreck on Deal beach.
A Terrible Shipwreck

We also have a lesson plan which mixes art and writing to create a poster-style painting
Words In Art

Learning Objectives:

Through using this lesson plan students should:
- Use a range punctuation marks to enhance and clarify the text
-Proof-read for spelling and punctuation errors
-Use organisational devices to structure the text
-Reflect independently and critically on their own writing and edit and improve it.

Research, Notes and Links:

Download this lesson plan