Grammar and Punctuation

I know that when I was a student I dreaded Grammar and Punctuation.  I felt like there were too many rules to remember.  I remember that it all felt very overwhelming and confusing.  I was intimidated by comma rules, "i before e except after c" and all the other information I was supposed to be able to apply to my writing.

Now, I've become a "Punctuation Vigilante".  When I read something and notice an error in it, I want to correct it with pen or even send a letter to the author to edit more carefully.

This year, you'll all become "Punctuation Vigilantes".  We'll have a class bulletin board where we'll post errors that we've found and figure out how to correct them.  You'll be shocked when you feel like screaming when you see a sign that says, "CD's for Sale".  

Punctuation will finally be FUNctuation!  I promise that you'll learn some things and not dread using commas!  You can check out the books "Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation" by Lynne Truss.  As a class, we'll learn about the hilarious consequences of misusing commas, apostrophes and other punctuation marks.  You'll get a chance to use them both properly and improperly to demonstrate your understanding.

Adjectives, verbs, adverbs, nouns and pronouns will be a lot more fun when we play "Mad Libs".  You'll have a chance to write your own stories and omit key words so that your classmates can fill them in to hysterical results.  If you want to play a Mad Libs type game online, you can go to EduPlace and play their "Wacky Web Tales".  

We'll go further with Grammar in a little activity called "Grammar Sutra".  You'll look at wacky pictures and describe them using certain conditions.  We'll start simple with things like: "Noun, verb, adverb", and work our way up from there.

"Noun, verb, adverb"

"The frog grasped tightly."

How about a making little more interesting?

"2 adjectives describing a noun, adverb describing verb, adjective and noun, another verb (past tense)"

"The miniscule neon frog tightly grasped the humongous appendage, wondering why he ever hopped in that bag."

Can you write a sentence describing this picture that's even better than mine?  The frog looks like he's thinking about something.  Can you describe that?  You have to use all the same criteria, though!  Leave your answers as a comment on this post.

These activities will have you asking, "Can we do more Grammar and Punctuation, Miss Pollock?  Please?"  You'll see.