What is a Sentence? Where & When to put a period.

This was created to teach students to avoid the very predictable mistakes they often make when trying to place a period.
The goal of this unit for for all students to have a firm grasp on where to put a period in simple declarative sentences. They do this by identifying the naming part and telling parts with lots of practice identifying fragments and run ons.
Complex sentences structure, where the subject comes LAST, are carefully avoided in all practice so as to not confuse this essential first step of teaching when & where to place a period.
Chronic predictable problems demonstrated (and which you fix during the lessons) include the "all periods on the right side" and the "totally random" placement of periods problems.
The lesson will help you walk your students through the structure of a single sentence. It starts by briefly reviewing the need for periods and capitals and then moves on to the key concepts of each sentence having a NAMING part (subject) and TELLING part (predicate) with practice recognizing fragments and run-on sentences as well as identifying normal sentences.
It introduces NOUNS (for the NAMING part) and VERBS & ADJECTIVES for the "TELLING" part.
There is further practice with entire paragraphs with incorrect periods (the same problems noted above) some with no periods whatsoever.
Here students you will guide students to find the naming parts and telling parts and they will learn to place a period correctly. They then learn to IMMEDIATELY make the letter after a period a capital letter. (to start the next sentence of course)
Every sentence in the lesson is intentionally written with simple declarative sentence wherein the subject comes first and predicate last so you will not be stuck with an awkward sentence that doesn't fit neatly into the pattern.
The practice involves underlining the "naming part" to and circling the "telling part" and then placing the period.
There is enough material for at least three to four complete lessons and by the end students should be able to complete the final page themselves which may serve as a final test for this unit to assess student learning.
The terms "subject" & "predicate are also introduced for faster learners who thrive on the more elevated nomenclature.
Note: This lesson was rewritten to focus exclusively learning what makes a sentence skills and when to place periods. FYI: The "old" version too quickly moved onto editing paragraphs for OTHER common errors such as the excessive use of AND or THEN which distracted from primary goal of this lesson period placement in sentences.
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Copyright 2010 Scott A. Beatty - You may download and even share this unit for your grade level team at your school. You may modify it any way you wish (under personal fair use laws) just so long as it is NOT RE-POSTED on the Internet (for free or for sale) anywhere without my written consent.

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