The Punctuation Dance

Whew! Friday was spent partly at school, partly on the road to a funeral, and partly at Urgent Care- plus 2 separate pharmacies to get antibiotics for bronchitis.

When I went to Urgent Care, they asked if I was visiting for something work-related.

My answer? "Not officially, but... I'm a teacher."

On the plus side, my kids can earn up to FIVE cotton balls for their compliment jar when we have a substitute teacher, and the sub said they earned 5+! Feels SO good to come back to a positive note and hear that my kids did well, especially the first time I had to be gone this year.

This week, I'm trying hard to keep my energy up so that I don't let on that I'm this drained! One of the activities we did today is one that helps kids learn how to read punctuation.

This is *not* my original idea- I learned it at a reading workshop- but I love it.

It's a very simple dance. It can be done with any text, but it's best for a text with lots of different punctuation.

When you get to a period, you stomp.
When you get to a comma, you step to the side.
When you get to a question, you put your hands up side to side like you're asking a question and wiggle down a little.
When you get to an exclamation point, you jump in the air with arms up!

This is perfect for that "WOW these kids need to move!" type of morning, but it also helps kids pay attention to the punctuation and how they should read it, which is such an important part of fluency!

Give the Punctuation Dance a try, and let me know what you think!