This Lesson's Title:

A Conventional Family

creatively personifying punctuation or parts of speech

This lesson was created by NNWP Teacher Consultant Courtney Hurlburt.

The intended "mentor text" to be used when teaching this on-line lesson is the picture book Punctuation Take a Vacation Boris by Robin Pulver. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author.

Check out Punctuation Takes a Vacation at Amazon.com.

Washoe County teachers, click here to search for this book at the county library.

Three-Sentence Overview of this Lesson:

In Disney's The Incredibles, each animated family member has a unique power, and together they form an interesting family.  For this assignment, students will create an imaginary family, and each family member will be associated with a different piece of punctuation, or with a different part of speech.  Once the family has been introduced, and each family member's "powers" explained, the students can create stories about their original "Conventional Family." Teachers: Click here to see the entire lesson plan.

6-Trait Overview for this Lesson:

The focus trait for this writing prompt is conventions; your self-expressive learners will appreciate the chance to show creative thinking about punctuation or parts of speech.  The support trait for this assignment is idea development; encourage your students to be as creative as possible as they introduce their family members.