Commas, Quotations and Spelling

1. Write four sentences with no commas: A "I made a sandwich and ate it on the bus." B "I made a sandwich and my sister made soup." C "Leo can swim but he cannot dive." D "Leo can swim but not dive."
2. Ask pairs to guess which need a comma before the conjunction. Collect votes without confirming. Most classes say all four, which is the belief the lesson is aimed at.
3. Keep the votes on the board; the Teach section returns to them.

1. Return to sentence B. Cover "and" and everything before it with your hand. What is left: "my sister made soup." Ask: "Could that be a sentence on its own?" Yes. Now check the first half: "I made a sandwich." Yes. Both stand alone, so write the comma: "I made a sandwich, and my sister made soup."
2. Do the same with A. What is left after "and" is "ate it on the bus." Ask: "Who ate it?" It has no subject, so it cannot stand alone. No comma. Board note: "Both sides stand alone → comma. One side can't → no comma."
3. Students do C and D with you. C: "he cannot dive" stands alone, so comma before "but." D: "not dive" does not, so no comma. Revisit the warm-up votes and mark each one right or wrong.
4. Quoted speech. Write: "Can we go now?" asked Priya. Point to three things: the question mark is inside the closing quotation mark; "asked" is lowercase because the sentence keeps going; the spoken words start with a capital.
5. Write the attribution first: Dad said, "Put your boots on." — comma after "said," capital P, period inside.
6. Split quotation. Write: "If you hurry," said Mom, "you will catch the bus." Ask why "you" is lowercase. Answer to fish for: it is the same sentence Mom was already saying; she was just interrupted by "said Mom."
7. Spelling: write "beleive." Ask if it looks right. Model checking it in the dictionary under "bel-", finding "believe," and correcting it. Say aloud what you did: guessed the first letters, scanned, compared letter by letter.

“Cover the "and" and everything before it. Can what is left stand as a sentence on its own? If yes, and the front half can too, it gets a comma.”

1. Pairs punctuate: 1 "the dog barked and the baby woke up" 2 "we washed the car and dried it" 3 "it was cold but we went swimming" 4 "she wanted to come but felt ill" 5 where is my bag asked Tom 6 Grandma said we will bake bread today 7 when you get home said Dad please feed the cat 8 that was amazing shouted Ali.
2. For 1-4 they must write "stands alone: yes/yes" or "yes/no" beside each before deciding. Key: comma in 1 and 3; no comma in 2 and 4.
3. Key for 5-8: "Where is my bag?" asked Tom. / Grandma said, "We will bake bread today." / "When you get home," said Dad, "please feed the cat." / "That was amazing!" shouted Ali.
4. Each pair picks two words from their writing book they are unsure of, checks them in the dictionary, and writes the correct spelling on a sticky note.

“Say the test out loud for every conjunction. "Stands alone? Yes. Stands alone? No. No comma." The saying is the skill.”

1. Students complete the punctuation page, which mixes conjunction commas and quoted speech.
2. Remind them the test is still on the board and that using it is not cheating; it is the method.

1. Write: "We waited for an hour but the bus never came." Take the decision and the reason.
2. Correct answer: comma before "but," because "the bus never came" and "we waited for an hour" both stand alone.