Authentic Lessons for 21st Century Learning

Lesson 5E Lesson
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Punctuation Culmination

Polly Base, Kelsey Willems | Published: June 17th, 2025 by K20 Center

  • Grade Level Grade Level 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th
  • Subject Subject English/Language Arts
  • Course Course A.P. Language and Composition
  • Time Frame Time Frame 285
  • Duration More 4-5

Summary

"At the table, we don't just share food, we share memories." Students will connect their understanding of punctuation rules with analyzing and writing food blogs. The knowledge gained through the previous lessons in this collection will enable students to identify successfully how punctuation impacts reading blogs as well as writing about the well-loved topic of food.

Essential Question(s)

How does using accurate punctuation impact writing? What are the key elements of a blog?

Learning Objectives

  • Students showcase writing using correct grammar and mechanics while being capable of intentionally deviating from the standard to achieve a desired effect. 

  • Students demonstrate accurate use of apostrophes, commas, colons, dashes, ellipses, and semicolons.

  • Students discover the key elements to a blog.

  • Students demonstrate their understanding by writing a personal food blog. 

Snapshot

Engage

Students determine what they already know about grammar and blogs using an Anticipation Guide. 

Explore

Students evaluate blog writing conventions used in a variety of blog posts.

Engage 2

Students synthesize information to create punctuation rules from their text messages.

Explain

Students review grammar rules and create their own rubrics for food blog projects. 

Extend

Students create their own food blog using Canva. 

Evaluate

Students provide guided peer review and self-reflect on feedback. 

Materials

  • Lesson Slides (attached) 

  • 17 Rules to Write By handout (attached; one per student)

  • Anticipation Guide handout (attached; one half sheet per student) 

  • Research Scavenger Hunt handout (attached; one per student) 

  • Rubric handout (attached; one per student) [optional]

  • Blog Writing handout (attached; one per student) 

  • Rorschach Reflections handout (attached; one per student)

  • Planning Guide handout (attached; one per student)  

  • Pen/Pencil

  • Electronic device 

  • Access to Canva (optional) 

Preparation

10 Minute(s)

Engage 2 

  1. Make a copy of the linked Google Form for each class period. 

  2. Add your URL to slide 15. (Remember to change it for each class period.)

Evaluate 

Create a Padlet for each class period (or be sure to erase after each class).

  1. Go to padlet.com.

  2. Log in to or create a Padlet account.

  3. Create a Padlet using the template below. Consider using the “Bulletin Board” setting so that students can easily share their posts. (Alternatively, you could use the “Wall with Sections” setting and label each column a class period and organize student posts that way.)

  4. Select “Remake” to create a copy of this Padlet on your own account to have one per class.

  5. Click “Get QR code,” and either copy the image of the QR code or click “DOWNLOAD.”

  6. Put your QR code on slide 38

 

Engage

30 Minute(s)

Use the attached Lesson Slides to facilitate this lesson. Display the title with slide 2 and then move through slides 3-4 to review the essential question and learning objectives in as much detail as you think necessary. 

Move to slide 5 and explain the Anticipation Guide strategy. Then pass out the attached half sheet Anticipation Guide handout to every student. Have students read each statement and choose their level of agreement based on the Likert scale. Allow students time to complete their handout. 

After students complete their Anticipation Guide, move to slide 6 and introduce students to the instructional strategy Fold the Line. Explain that they will be engaging in a discussion over all of the statements on the Anticipation Guide. Display the first prompt on slide 7. Direct students to line up according to how much they agree with the prompt on a scale of 1–4 starting with 1s on the left and so on. After they have lined up, instruct the student at the end to "fold the line" by walking to face the student at the front. Have the rest of the line follow the leader, pairing up with the next classmate in line. Each student should be standing across from the classmate who was standing at an opposite position in the line. If there is an uneven number, create one group of 3.

Instruct students to discuss the prompt with their partners. Invite students to ask clarifying questions before starting the activity and verify their understanding of the task.

Transition through slides 8-12 and have students repeat the procedure for each prompt.

Explore

45 Minute(s)

Move to slide 13 and pass out a copy of the Blog Writing handout to each student. Have students read and highlight key elements. Then, have them discuss their highlighted elements in small groups. End the discussion by asking students what they know about food blogs specifically. 

Next, pass out the Research Scavenger Hunt handout to every student and move to slide 14. Have students individually find examples of food blogs or use the provided blog URLs. Then, ask them to use the Blog Writing handout to find examples of blog conventions within each blog example. Along with the specific blog conventions, remind students to take notice of the following parts of a food blog:

  • Anecdote

  • Preview of ingredients

  • Recipe steps

  • Final recipe

After students fill out the Research Scavenger Hunt handout individually, have them get back into small groups and discuss what they noticed about each blog. Ask each group to share what they think is the most interesting characteristic of a food blog.

Engage 2

30 Minute(s)

Move to slide 15 and have students access the Google Form you have created. Explain that students will be sharing their emotional responses to different forms of punctuation and grammar by creating a class word cloud. Allow students time to complete the form. Once students have completed the form, access their answers by navigating to the “Responses” tab. Then, copy and paste all of their responses (or consider doing it per prompt) into EdWordle or your preferred word cloud app.

Share the word cloud(s) you created with the class. Remind students that in a word cloud the words that have been repeated appear bigger than others. This helps us see how similar our responses are to others. After students have had time to consider the word cloud (or after each prompt’s word cloud), consider asking for volunteers to share some of their experiences with punctuation. Ask them to explain why they chose the response they did. 

Move to slide 22 and pass out the Rorschach Reflections handout to every student. Ask students to use their responses and the class word clouds as a guide to create their own personal word cloud that reflects not just what they felt with the five examples of grammar they reviewed already but any form of grammar. Explain that afterwards they should move on to the next part of the handout and write an example of how they use punctuation when texting. Ask for volunteers to share some of their responses. 

Afterwards, have students work with a partner to create rules for when/how to use the same five grammar examples they have been reflecting on. 

Give students time to discuss, then move to slide 23 and ask students: What is the difference between using punctuation in text messages vs formal writing? Consider probing students further about how their mindset changes as they think about punctuation for different situations. 

Explain

60 Minute(s)

Pass out the 17 Rules to Write By handout to each student. Transition through slides 24-32 to review major punctuation rules in as much detail as needed making sure to ask for any questions from students. Invite students to add additional notes and examples to their handouts as needed. 

Next, have students take out their Research Scavenger Hunt handout and sit with a partner, then move to slide 33. Explain that students will eventually create their own food blogs, but first they need to create their own rubric for what it should contain. Help students navigate to MagicSchool Ai and access a rubric template. Once everyone has found a template, move to slide 34 and instruct students to use both their 17 Rules to Write By and Research Scavenger Hunt handouts to fill in their rubrics. Explain that their rubrics will not only help them write their blogs, but it will also be used to guide their peer review sessions afterwards. 

Remind students to include the sample row for punctuation in their rubric. Remind students to use a variety of examples of punctuation as this is a culminating project.

Punctuation to include the following: Dashes, semicolons, colons, commas, apostrophes, ellipses, quotation marks, parentheses, brackets, and ellipses.

Extend

60 Minute(s)

Transition to slide 35.  Explain to students the instructions needed to write their own food blog. Walk students through how to access Canva and a blog template. Remind them that this is a culminating activity to the punctuation lessons, so the use of a variety of correctly used punctuation marks will be expected. 

Pass out the Planning Guide handout. Describe each expectation on the Planning Guide including: 

  • Text structures: how will you structure your blog post

  • Language features: what literary devices will you use, informal/formal

  • Multimodal elements: what multimodal elements will you include (photos, videos, drawings, music, etc.)

Allow students time to work on their blogs. 

Evaluate

60 Minute(s)

Transition to slide 36. Have students share their completed blog with a partner and use their peer review rubric to score each other’s blog. As they are discussing with their partner, instruct students to notice mistakes that need to be corrected. Some common errors might include:  Comma Happy; Too wordy; Incomplete Sentences; Boring (be more descriptive), Improve Vocabulary, etc. 

Have students Make a Meme following the directions on slide 37.

This meme will be shared on a class Padlet. Use slide 38 to walk students through how to upload their meme to your created Padlet. Remind students when adding memes to the class Padlet to make sure to explain the grammar rule or error being depicted in the text comments.

Post the Padlet results and have the students do a virtual Gallery Walk of the results taking note of the most common mistakes. Explain to the students that they can use this information to study for the ACT/SAT or other class assessments.

Resources

Publisher

K20 Center

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Standards

Oklahoma Academic Standards: English Language Arts (Grade 12)
12.5.W.2: Demonstrate command of Standard American English (i.e., grammar, mechanics, and usage) in writing, presentations, and/or multimodal literacies to convey specific meanings and ideas, intentionally departing from standard usage to achieve a specific effect.
12.5.W.5: Write using correct apostrophe mechanics.
12.5.W.6: Write using correct comma mechanics.
12.5.W.7: Use a colon or dash to reveal information in a sentence.
12.5.W.8: Use an ellipsis to indicate omission from quoted material and brackets to indicate an addition or clarification to quoted material.
12.5.W.10: Write using correct semicolon mechanics.

Facilitator Resources

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  • Lesson Slides—Jump to the Recipe

Learner Handouts

Click on a file type icon to download an attachment.

  • 17 Rules to Write By—Jump to the Recipe
  • Anticipation Guide—Jump to the Recipe
  • Blog Writing—Jump to the Recipe
  • Planning Guide—Jump to the Recipe
  • Research Scavenger Hunt—Jump to the Recipe
  • Rorschach Reflections—Jump to the Recipe
  • Rubric—Jump to the Recipe

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