USING QUESTION MARKS
Grade: 2
Subject/Content Area(s): Language Arts
NCSCOS Goal(s): Goal 5: The learner will apply grammar and language conventions to communicate
effectively.
NCSCOS Objective(s): Objective 5.03 Use capitalization, punctuation, and paragraphs in own writing.
Lesson Content:
 Question Marks go at the end of interrogative sentences.
 Interrogative sentences are different than statement or command sentences.
o Interrogative sentences ask something.
 There are words that let us know a question is a sentence.
o Who, What, When, Where, Why, How, Do, Did, Can, May, Does, Which, Will
Materials: 1. Large Question Mark with Velcro circles placed on it
2. Cards with question words with Velcro on the back
3. Sentence strips with examples of interrogative and declarative sentences.
4. Answer paddles with a period on one side and a question mark on the other, one per
student.
5. Worksheet for Independent Practice
My visuals are a large question mark, question words and sentence strips with sentence examples.
Multiple Intelligences: This lesson incorporates the linguistic intelligence by having the students read the
sentence examples. This will be done in the Guided Practice section of this lesson.
Instructional Modifications: I will provide modification for students that are below grade level in reading
by including sentences that are of various degrees of difficulty.
Lesson Objective: After learning about interrogative sentences and question marks, the student will
correctly identify 5 interrogative sentences and add question marks to the end of the sentences on a
worksheet that contains 10 sentences.
Procedures:
1. Focus and Review: (speak quickly, not allowing time for answers) “What is your name? How did
you come to school today? When will it be lunch time? Where do we keep the crayons? Who is
your best friend? Why did you raise your hand? Will you please close the door? Which one of
these books do you like best? May I sharpen my pencil? Do you have a blue marker? Did you call
my name? Can you hear me? Does anyone have a cat? Can anyone tell me what all of those
sentences have in common? (wait for student response) That’s right! They were asking you
something. Each of those sentences required an answer.
2. Statement of Objective: “Today we will be learning about interrogative sentences and the special
punctuation mark that you use at the end of them. We will also learn words that give us clues that
a sentence is an interrogative sentence.”
3. Teacher Input:
“In our last lesson, we learned about statements and commands. What is the punctuation mark
that goes at the end of those sentences? (period) Who can give me an example of a statement?
What is an example of a command?”
“Let’s listen to the sentences that I said earlier. (repeat the questions, more slowly, from Focus and
Review) How are these sentences different than statements and commands?”
“These sentences are called interrogative sentences or a question. They ask a question and need
an answer.”
“Interrogative sentences end with a special punctuation mark, called a question mark. This is what
it looks like. Display the large question mark on the board.
“There are certain words that help us know that a sentence is asking a question. Listen carefully as
I say the sentences from earlier to see if you can identify the words that give you a clue that the
sentence is asking a question.” (Go through the sentences again, and when the clue words are
said, introduce the word card. Then place them on the question mark.)
“When you are reading, if you see these words that is a clue that the sentence you are reading is a
question.”
4. Guided Practice: Pass out the answer paddles. One side will have a question mark, and the other
side will have a period. Tell the students that you will give them examples of sentences and they
need to decide what punctuation mark goes at the end of the sentence. They will hold up their
answer paddle to display their answer. Display the sentence strips and ask for volunteers to read
the sentences. Give students time to respond with their answer paddles. After each example, give
the correct answer and ask the students how they decided the correct answer. Repeat for each
sentence.
5. Independent Practice: Pass out the worksheet with 10 sentences. Tell the students they will read
the sentences on their own and then place the correct punctuation mark (a period or a question
mark) at the end of the sentence. Have the students turn in the worksheet when they are finished
so that they can be evaluated.
6. Closure: “Today we learned that interrogative sentences ask questions. Can someone give me an
example of a word that gives us a clue that a sentence is asking a question? (Wait for responses.)
Remember that interrogative sentences always end with a question mark.
Lesson Plan Reflection (to be completed after you teach)
1. Student Performance: How did the students react to the lesson? Did they learn the material?
How do you know?
The students really liked this lesson. They enjoyed it being interactive in both the teacher input
section and the guided practice. When we were doing the guided practice, they were very eager to
show their answers using the answer paddles. The answer paddles allowed me to quickly assess
which students were grasping the material. Having the students read the sample sentences also
made the lesson more interactive. Through the worksheet that I used for independent assessment,
I found that students were able to distinguish between sentences that needed a period and
sentences that needed a question mark at the end. The majority of them got all of the questions on
the worksheet correct.
2. Teacher performance: Reflect on how well you delivered instruction. What went well and what
did not? Why? What would you change? What would you keep the same? Which parts of the
lesson were confusing and/or not helpful for the students?
Overall, this lesson went very smoothly. Keeping in mind the timing issues from the first lesson, I
cut down the number of sentences that we did during the guided practice. We didn’t have time to
go through all twenty, so I cut it back on some since we were running low on time. The down side
of using the answer paddles is that the students were looking at each other’s answers, so I’m not
completely sure that they were answering on their own. Having the independent practice
structured much like the guided practice; I was able to see which students comprehended the
information, and which students needed some extra help.
When
Where
Why
What
How
Who
Do
Did
Can
May
Which
Will
Does
Sentences for Guided Practice
Write each on a sentence strip without the punctuation mark.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
My brother plays football.
What time is it?
Bring me a pair of scissors.
My dog’s name is Lucky.
Where are we going?
Take out the trash.
Who is that lady?
May I have another cookie?
Will you be at school tomorrow?
Books are fun to read.
How old are you?
Did you go to the park?
You are my friend.
Close the door.
Can you bring me a pencil?
My mom is a nurse.
Throw the ball to me.
Do you like poetry?
Tell me more about him.
What are you doing tonight?
Answer Paddles
Side 1
.
Side 2
?
Name___________________________________
Punctuation
Date___________________
Practice
Read each sentence. Decide if the sentence is a statement, a
command or a question. Write the proper punctuation mark at the
end of each sentence.
1.
What is your favorite season _____
2.
My sister has a dog named Spot _____
3.
Pass the ketchup, please _____
4.
Did you have a fun vacation _____
5.
How are you today _____
6.
My favorite food is pizza _____
7.
Who is your favorite author _____
8.
I like to read _____
9.
When is your birthday _____
10.
The baby cried all night ______