Punctuation Walk
Family Workshop
Literacy Outline #8
Standards, Outline, and Materials
Program Goal: To foster school success and promote resiliency of young children by
encouraging home/school partnerships and active participation of families in the education of
their preschool children.
Session Objectives:
• Participants will learn a strategy for teaching their children to recognize and identify
punctuation marks in text.
• Participants will reflect on past experiences with books and activities in the Family
Literacy Bags.
Literacy Standards:
• Answer detailed who, what, when, where, and why questions about a story using complete
sentences.
• Recognize punctuation marks by name and purpose.
• Identify when two words rhyme.
Outline for Literacy Learning:
• 5 minutes
Starter Activity: Mrs. Wishy-Washy
• 5 minutes
Family Literacy Lesson: Punctuation Walk
• 10 minutes
Activity One: Favorite Books
• 10 minutes
Activity Two: Activity Reflection
• 15 minutes
Children’s Performance
Materials:
• Book: Mrs. Wishy-Washy
• Mrs. Wishy-Washy pointer
• Book title labels (per participant)
• Book form to rank books (per participant)
• Mud and animal pattern with rhyming stickers (per participant)
• Activity Reflection handout (per participant)
• Family Literacy Bag (per participant)
Punctuation Walk Script
Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida © 2009
Title of Starter Activity: Mrs. Wishy-Washy
Length of Time for Activity: 5 minutes
Format of Activity: Participants should be seated at a table so they can see the book.
Note for Presenter: Involve participants in the read aloud.
Materials: Mrs. Wishy-Washy
Procedure:
 Say,
•
“One of the books you are receiving in this session’s Family Literacy Bag is Mrs. Wishy-
Washy.”
•
“I am going to read the story to you now.”
•
“When you read this with your children, they will pick up on the repetition of the story
and start to read along.”
•
“Feel free to do the same thing – and read along with me.”
 Hold up the book Mrs. Wishy-Washy and say,
•
“The author of Mrs. Wishy-Washy is Joy Cowley. The second book you are receiving this
week is called The Scrubbing Machine and Joy Cowley also wrote that book. You will
notice similarities.”
 Read aloud the story Mrs. Wishy-Washy.
 After the read aloud say,
•
“Now we are going to use this book to focus on a specific literacy skill.”
Punctuation Walk Script
Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida © 2009
Title of Family Literacy Activity One: Punctuation Walk
Length of Time for Activity: 10 minutes
Format of Activity: Participants should be able to stand and participate in the activity.
Note for Presenter: Encourage all participants to engage in the activity.
Materials: Mrs. Wishy-Washy
Procedure:
 Hold up the book Mrs. Wishy-Washy and say,
o “Your preschool-aged children are going to enjoy this book because of its simple,
repetitive language.”
o “They are going to learn to read the book very easily.”
 Turn through the pages of the book and say,
o “Since there are not many words in this story, it is a great book to use for practicing
punctuation.”
o “When there are a lot of words – the punctuation is harder to emphasize.”
o “One of the standards your children should practice is identifying punctuation marks.”
o “I want to teach you how to do a “Punctuation Walk, which will help you emphasize
commas, periods, question marks, exclamation marks, and quotation marks.”
 Read the following steps one at a time. Model the procedure for each step and ask
participants to do the procedure with you as it is explained.
 Turn to the first two pages of the story Mrs. Wishy-Washy and say,
o “The first thing we will do is clap once for each word on the page. We will clap high in
the air if the word begins with an uppercase letter and clap near our waist if the word
begins with a lowercase letter.”
o “On these two pages what punctuation marks do you see?” (Allow participants to
respond.)
o “Yes, we see commas, quotation marks, and a period.”

“When you reach a quotation mark, show that someone
is talking by putting your two hands on either side of your mouth and two
Punctuation Walk Script
Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida © 2009
fingers on each hand to form quotation marks around your mouth.”
(Demonstrate for participants.)

“When you reach a comma, pretend to rest by laying your head on your
hands. We do this when we read the word ‘Yes’ followed by a comma.”

“When you reach a period, hold your hand out in front of you
as if telling someone to stop. We do this when we read the
word ‘you’ followed by a period.”
o “Let’s practice again on the next two pages.”
 Turn to pages 4 and 5 and repeat the punctuation walk for the quotation marks, commas, and
period while also clapping once for each word on the page. Turn to page 9 of the story and
ask,
o “What punctuation mark have we not practiced yet?” (Allow participants to respond.)
o “Yes, we have not practiced an exclamation point.”

“When you reach and exclamation point, show excitement by raising your
fist in the air and pulling it down quickly. We do this after
we read the word ‘you!’”

“There are no question marks in this story – but when you reach a
question mark, hold your hands up at your side as if to say you are not sure
about something.”
 Say,
o “Involving your children in a Punctuation Walk provides a fun, hands-on, interactive
way to look at punctuation, something that is not always treated as ‘fun.’”
o “If you think this is too complicated for your children, choose one type of punctuation
walk to focus on and do a Punctuation Walk for just that one type of punctuation.”
o “Are there any questions?” (Answer any question that is posed.)
Punctuation Walk Script
Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida © 2009
Title of Family Literacy Activity One: Favorite Books
Length of Time for Activity: 10 minutes
Format of Activity: Participants should be seated around a table so they attach labels.
Note for Presenter: Be willing to discuss books with participants.
Materials: Per participant – book title labels, book form to rank books, writing utensil
Procedure:
 Say,
•
“I hope you are going to enjoy Mrs. Wishy-Washy and The Scrubbing Machine.”
•
“Over the past seven weeks – you have had the opportunity to
receive 14 different books.”
 Hold up a copy of the book title labels and say,
•
“I have the 14 book titles here on these labels.”
•
“It would be a great help to us if you let us know which books you
liked the best.”
 Hold up the book form to rank books and say,
•
“I am going to give you a sheet of 14 labels and this form – could
you please take the labels off and stick them on this form in the
order of your preference of books.”
•
“You will notice that the directions point out that if there is a book
you did not receive – you can add that label to the BACK of the form.”
•
“Are there any questions?” (Answer any question that is posed.)
 Give each participant a sheet of 14 book title labels and a book form
to rank books.
 Allow participants to rank the books. Provide assistance as needed.
Punctuation Walk Script
Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida © 2009
Title of Family Literacy Activity Two: Activity Reflection
Length of Time for Activity: 10 minutes
Format of Activity: Participants will end up walking around to form groups.
Note for Presenter:
Materials: Per participant – one mud or animal pattern with rhyming stickers, Activity
Reflection handout, writing utensil
Procedure:
 Hold up a set of blank animal and mud patterns and say,
•
“One of the activities in your Family Literacy Bag is called Animals in the Mud.”
•
“You have rhyming stickers in your bag and together with your child you will create
rhyming patterns using these blank animal and mud patterns.”
•
“I have a set already complete that I am going to pass out right now.”
 Give each participant a mud or animal pattern with a sticker on it. Then say,
•
“Now that you all have either a mud or animal pattern with a sticker on it, walk around and
find the other participants whose stickers rhyme with yours. You will form a group for
the next activity.”
 Allow participants to walk around the room and find their group.
 After groups are formed say,
•
“Now that your groups have been formed, here is your task.”
 Give each participant an Activity Reflection handout and say,
•
“As a group talk about these two questions – What is one activity
you have done with your child that went really well? What made it go so well? AND What
is one activity you have done with your child that did not go well? Why didn’t it go well?”
 After groups have had time to discuss the two questions together, if time allows, ask each
group to share their response with the larger group.
 Thank participants for their feedback.
Punctuation Walk Script
Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida © 2009
Children’s
Performance
The modules presented here were funded in part by the Office of Postsecondary Education, U.S.
Department of Education as part of the Virtual School Readiness Incubator Project, the Department of
Health and Human Services, Administration on Children, Youth and Families as part of the Early Learning
Opportunities Act/Bringing Education and Support to Teachers, Parents and Children (ELOA/BEST) Project,
and the Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida. The content of these modules does
not necessarily reflect the views or policies or imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education, the
Department of Health and Human Services, and/or the University of North Florida.
Punctuation Walk Script
Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida © 2009