mom2bee Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 Does anyone else have student that is "punctuation blind" when they read? What have you done to help them develop awareness of and encouraging them to use the punctuation when they read to aid their comprehension and fluency? I have a summer student (rising 3rd grader) that just blows right through punctuation of all kinds whether its periods, quotations, exclamations points, question marks--you name it, she'll read right through it without acknowledging it and it is hurting her reading comprehension. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kateingr Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 For my son, it took regular reading aloud and just plain old slow and steady explicit teaching. It has made such a huge difference to his comprehension. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5LittleMonkeys Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 I'm in the same boat with a rising 4th grader. We've been working on this for well over a year and I'm not seeing a whole lot of improvement so I'm beginning to wonder if there is some kind of other issue going on...though I can't imagine what it would be since he doesn't have trouble reading the words. I've even taken to going through some of his reading material and having him circle all of the punctuation prior to reading, which does slow him down and help him, BUT I certainly can't do this with every single thing he reads, especially library books! I'll be listening in! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fraidycat Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 I would have them dramatize read aloud assignments. Even just one paragraph or 5 minutes a day. Emphasis on the drama part. Must count for 3 seconds between sentences. Must speak with excitement! Questions need voice inflection at end (over emphasized at first). Count to one at commas. Quotations must have character voices. And so on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 My son does it on purpose just to drive me nuts. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinivanMom Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 I had him practice reading aloud. We would trade off paragraphs, so that he wouldn't be reading too much at a time. Then I would remind him to "pause for the punctuation" every single time it was his turn to read. He could remember to do it for the length of a paragraph. My goal was to keep the instruction simple, so I didn't even worry about having the correct inflection. I simply told him to, "Just.pause.whenever.you.see.a.punctuation.mark!" It took some time to master the pausing, but once he could do it and had slowed down, the inflection gradually developed on its own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 Glad I don't have the only ones like this. Older ones eventually got it. Working on ds#1 right now. Might do some reader's theater with him when his reading level is up to the stuff I already have. Bugs the heck out of me that he doesn't see the punctuation or just stops when he thinks the sentence already sounds right. :smash: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aprilleigh Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 DS does this too, although it hasn't seemed to affect his comprehension. It drives me nuts though. A specific goal for the next school year is to get him to pay more attention to punctuation when reading aloud. The fact that it doesn't seem to affect comprehension suggests he may see the punctuation and just not be responding to it orally. Guess we'll figure it out next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walking-Iris Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 Lots of practice and reading aloud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 Dictation. They have to listen for it and include it in their writing. It made my kids a whole lot more aware of it when they read aloud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minerva Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 Often times she will read a page first, then I will read it to her (to model how it can sound), then she will read it again. Also, I occasionally ask her to stop and count for three seconds at every period and one second for every comma, out loud at first and then to herself as she gets the hang of it. This gets her to notice the punctuation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess4879 Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 My middle kiddo is a strong reader and would rush through punctuation also. During our reading lesson each day, I'd photocopy a section, or put a page protector over the page and have her highlight the punctuation as she read. I also read a sentence and had her mimic it, then two, and so on. Another thing I think helped was doing some reader's theatre. The kids had so much fun with this and it really helps them to put emotion into their voices and respect punctuation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 A few ideas: 1, read a short paragraph to your child twice. First time read it without any attention to punctuation. Second time read it with good inflection and pauses etc... Then ask which one was easier to understand. Then have your child try. 2, take a paragraph and mark the phrasing for them with a gentle, swooping line under the words. This can help with things besides punctuation too. If you have a halting reader who seems to pause after every word, or a speed reader who blows through too quickly, marking some phrasing can help them see what words to chunk together as one cohesive idea. Start with smaller phrased chunks for younger/less experienced readers, and use longer phrased chunks when they are ready for more--longer chunks tend to help with more fluency and comprehension. 3, if reading too fast is also a problem, check these ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 Both my boys (dyslexics) had to be taught to read punctuation. My oldest has it down now, but my youngest still regularly blows through punctuation marks. It is definitely a work in progress and we spend lots of time reading aloud daily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternallytired Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 For a humorous look at why punctuation is important, make sure you read through Eats, Shoots & Leaves. The kids' version is very silly, and it helps kids understand how vital a comma can be making meaning. It doesn't hurt to have a silly reference to make your kid laugh when you point out that they are blowing through punctuation, and the book can also provide a very clear "why" behind your instruction, which never hurts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 My son does it on purpose just to drive me nuts. I think this is probably what my ds is doing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 For a humorous look at why punctuation is important, make sure you read through Eats, Shoots & Leaves. The kids' version is very silly, and it helps kids understand how vital a comma can be making meaning. It doesn't hurt to have a silly reference to make your kid laugh when you point out that they are blowing through punctuation, and the book can also provide a very clear "why" behind your instruction, which never hurts. We also enjoyed Punctuation Takes a Vacation :-). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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