Explicit Punctuation Instruction...help?

[pantone]

Hello!

 

I have a dyslexic / dysgraphic DS10 for whom basic reading and writing have been a struggle; therefore, we sort of tossed punctuation instruction to the side for the moment.

 

Now that he can read at the 65th percentile (ITBS, I'll take what I can get!), I'd like to get more serious about grammar instruction.

 

What are my resources? I have Nitty-Gritty Grammar and More Nitty-Gritty Grammar, but I need less of a technical book and more of a simple approach to introduce punctuation. Sort of "This is a comma. It is used for A, B and C." versus Strunk and White.

 

Please help if you can. I'm down to painting punctuation marks on game pieces and having him place them in sentences without really having strict guidelines in where to use them. He's a miniature engineer and wants rules and logic above all else. (Boy does he hate spelling! There's an exception to every rule!)

 

:confused:

[nancyb]

:bigear:

[Hunter]

I don't like to use most punctuation curriculum, because they show mistakes to be corrected. I don't want them to see mistakes. I like to show the student model sentences, and have the student compose similar sentences.

 

I use McGuffey's Eclectic Readers for copywork. Sometimes the punctuation can be a little different, so I don't use those sentences as models, but as general copywork, they learn more than they get confused by. With McGuffey's there is a controlled word list, so I teach a few words for each story and know there will never be surprise words I haven't taught. I use Writing Road to Reading 6th edition to teach handwriting. I use the lowercase cursive and uppercase manuscript letters.

 

For model sentences I lift punctuation models from Climbing to Good English. For general sentence composition, I've just started using Mark Twain Sentence Diagramming as models.

[helena]

Have you looked at Cozy Punctuation? You watch a short video clip on DVD and complete a worksheet. The DVDs are a great yearly review.

 

Marie Rackham's style either works for you or it doesn't. We find her cozy and gentle (something my kids needed). Here's a clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqaf_0pYRmo

Edited August 1, 2012 by helena

[Hunter]

Have you looked at Cozy Punctuation? You watch a short video clip on DVD and complete a worksheet. The DVDs are a great yearly review.

 

Maria Rackham's style either works for you or it doesn't. We find her cozy and gentle (something my kids needed). Here's a clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqaf_0pYRmo

 

:iagree:

 

I thought about this last night after I posted. Advanced punctuation isn't standard. There is more than one system and most systems involve overlapping rules that can be confusing to students that want just ONE way to punctuate each situation. Marie gives very precise rules that don't overlap. It's a great system.

 

I have used the punctuation videos in the past with great success with my ESL students. All of the current LD students I have, do better with just paper and pencil. Cozy punctuation does have a pdf workbook, but I seem unable to get my current group to focus on it after being stimulated by the video :-0 I think it might just be this group. :-0 And the advanced punctuation rules don't match always CGE, so...I've dropped it for now.

[helena]

She does grammar too!