(A) Relevant State and National Content Standards
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.6.2 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

(B) Learners’ Background
Students know the use of ending punctuation marks in different types of sentences. (C) Student Learning Objective
The student will be able to use punctuation in their writing to help the reader understand the meaning of the sentence.

(D) Materials & Teacher-developed Resources
Traits Packet, excerpt from Leo the Snow Leopard by Juliana Isabella, and a video of coauthor Craig Hatkoff, images of animals

(E) Learning Activities (Teaching and Learning Strategies with an Approximate Timeline) Homework from previous night will be corrected together.

(1) Initiation
To initiate the lesson a video clip of coauthor, Craig Hatkoff will be showed. After the book cover of Owen and Mzee will be showed to the class online and then compare the animals from the real life story of the tortoise and the hippopotamus, to the story Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, and the aid of the crow, Jeremy, by Mrs Frisby, the mouse.

(2) Development

1. To start the lesson we will go over punctuation and its uses.

“Which punctuation marks do we remember to use in writing? Discuss at your table the punctuation marks you use and its uses in your writing.”

The teacher will then go around the room asking each table to share a punctuation mark and its use with the class by righting on left side of the white board each in a different color. Afterward the teacher will go over what the class came up with and see which ones we missed.

“As we can see punctuation marks have very important functions in writing. We are now going to be reading a passage from Leo and the Snow Leopard by Juliana, Isabella, and Craig Hatkoff. Pay attention to how the punctuation affect the flow of the piece.” The teacher will read the passage to the class as they read along. Afterwards the teacher will ask a few students to point out the punctuation they saw being used in the text and its uses.

2. The students will now pair up in groups of 2 or 3 and on a separate sheet of paper, write out 2 of the sentences, omitting the punctuation marks. Then from there have them read the sentences to one another and discuss the fluency—or lack thereof! Ask the class how it went and guide them to see the absence of punctuation makes the sentence difficult to read. Punctuation indicates where readers should slow down speed up, but also highlights important information for reader to think about.

(3) Closure “What did you learn about conventions form the text that you can apply to your own writing? (5) Independent Work
Leo the Snow Leopard contains many photo captions about Leo and the people who helped him. Use of the conventions is just as important in captions as it is in running text. The teacher will distribute the photos to the class and for each student to choose their 4 favorite and turn to the Caption Challenge sheet in their writing packet. There they will briefly describe each photo, and write a caption for it. Captions are usually short, but identify the subject of the photo, provide a context, and engage the reader.

When finished the teacher will have the students share their photos and captions with each other and talk about the ones they feel use punctuation to the best effect.

(F) Evaluation of Student Learning
Informal assessment: Teacher will