Writing Mini-Lesson Template
Name: ________________Lizzie Byrnes_________________
Date: ________4/16______________
Grade: ________Fourth______________________
Writing Trait: _Conventions and Presentation_
Focus Area: _______Commas_______
Curriculum Standards
SOL(s):
4.8 The student will edit writing for correct grammar, capitalization, spelling,
punctuation, sentence structure, and paragraphing.
e) Use commas in series, dates, and addresses.
Essential Question(s):
Will all students learn to insert commas appropriately into a sentence?
Will all students be able to apply commas in their own writing/editing of sentences?
Will students be able to pause correctly when reading commas in sentences?
Lesson Objectives: A statement or statements of what the students will be able to do as a result of the lesson. Need to be observable and
measurable.(ABCD format)
SWBAT insert commas appropriately in their writing 80% of the time.
SWBAT create one paragraph as a group and insert commas where needed 85% of the time.
SWBAT edit sentences that are written on the board with 100% accuracy.
SWBAT explain at least two places where commas are used.
Writing Mini-Lesson Template
Assessment of Objectives: Describe how you will collect evidence that individual students have indeed met the lesson objective(s). These need to be tied
to the degree or criteria from your objectives:
Students will verbally tell me two places in writing where commas are used.
Students writing work will be collected and examined thoroughly for errors.
When we review the Guided practice, the students will put their thumbs up if they think that the sentence needs a comma and thumbs down if they think
it doesn’t or needs to lose a comma.
Explicit Explanation/Direct Instruction:
Teacher: Focusing attention, laying the groundwork, creating interest, sparking curiosity, students understand the purpose “the why” (set a purpose,
explicit explanation of expectations)
Student: Strategies to obtain prior knowledge, similarities, connections, analogies, think about thinking “metacognition”
 When the students come into the room, there should be sentence strips and dry-erase markers on their desks.
Writing Mini-Lesson Template
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Have the students sit down and look at the board.
The board will have the following sentence written on it:
Let’s go eat Grandma!
“Look at the sentence on the board.”
“On the count of three, we are going to read the sentence out loud together.”
Once the students read the sentence out loud, say: “The way this sentence was spoken by us and written is different. We read the sentence as
‘Let’s eat, Grandma’, but the sentence is on the board as ‘Let’s eat grandma’. Who can tell me where to put the comma so that we are no longer
eating grandma?”
Have the students direct their attention to the overhead projector. On the projector, I will have the Rachel Ray grammar mistake on the board
(see mentor text section for link).
Students will analyze this text and tell me what is wrong with it.
This will open up discussion of why commas are important.
“Commas, whether written or spoken, convey the idea of a pause. They are used in things such as clauses, compound sentences, lists, nonessential elements, geographical names, and dates.”
“When editing, you put a carrot top on top of your comma. (Model this on the board with the grandma sentence). This shows that you are
planning to insert the comma later when you are doing your final draft. When peer editing, you can put these carrot tops on the commas so that
they know it is optional. Sometimes, commas are not needed, but rather wanted.”
“When you are making any type of pause in writing, such as when you are listing something, you have a comma. I am going to put the following
examples on the board, and I would like you to write them on your dry erase slips and then correct the commas as need be.”
Model (Mentor Text, Teacher Writing): Strategies to demonstrate how to use the trait/focus area, thinking aloud, visuals/examples, scaffolded
instruction
Students will look at the Rachel Ray grammar mistake.
Teacher will ask what’s wrong with the picture. I will then say it out loud the way it is written. Then I will stop and wonder how it was supposed to be
written. I will place the comma where it needs to go. This is an example of a think aloud using a visual. From there I will facilitate discussion about the
importance of commas and where they are used.
Link:
https://www.google.com/search?safe=active&hl=en&q=rachael+ray+comma+error&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.45175338,d.dmQ&biw=1280&bih=7
07&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=qshsUbf8I5HW0gG5u4HoDA#imgrc=1A9md53UyEOLM%3A%3BCy578cTEa6resM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwellingtonhousebcn.files.wordpress.com%252F2012%252F06%252Frachael-rayfake-magazine-cover-cooking-her-dog-and-family.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Ftt.tenniswarehouse.com%252Fshowthread.php%253Ft%253D431940%3B600%3B375
Writing Mini-Lesson Template
Guided Practice: Strategies for active engagement with new content, applying new knowledge, checking for understanding, reflecting on learning
Write the following sentences on the board:
1. My interests include: baking dogs, reading, and hanging out with my friends.
2. Slow children crossing.
(the next two are comma deletion…why)
3. The Panda eats, shoots, and leaves
4. Don’t do anything, stupid.
Using the knowledge students just learned about commas conveying a pause, and separating ideas etc. have the students work in pairs with the
sentences and write them so that they are grammatically correct.
At the end, we will review the sentences as a class and review how commas change the meaning of sentences.
Take away: Commas change lives.
Rationale: Why teach this lesson in this way? Why give these objectives? Why are these the BEST strategies to choose and use? Explain why this
sequence of activities leads to cultivating the behaviors or performing the skills or displaying the knowledge called for by the objectives.
The reason that I chose to teach the lesson the way that I did is because I believe that students learn well when in a fun learning environment. By giving
them funny examples, you can gradually lower their guards when it comes to the “horrible” grammar rules. This lesson is how I would set up the rest of
the week for more specified comma usages. Students should be able to use commas appropriately in their writing and editing. I gave the objectives that I
did because I expect my students to reflect their knowledge directly in their writing and editing choices. They should be able to defend their decisions and
know what types of writing needs commas (ex. Lists).