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3rd grade · English Language Arts · Unit 4 of 13

Punctuation Power

Commas, apostrophes and quotes

What your child practices

Choosing end marks, using commas in lists and dates, writing contractions and possessives with apostrophes, and putting quotation marks around speech.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 3.2.1.1 · commas in a series, apostrophes and other punctuation

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. End a statement with a period, a question with ?, and strong feeling with !
  2. Use commas between things in a list.
  3. An apostrophe takes the place of missing letters: do not → don’t. Quotation marks go around the exact words someone says.

Example: What is the contraction for “cannot”? Join the two parts: can + not. The apostrophe stands for the missing letters. Answer: can’t

Punctuation Power in Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 4 of 13 in 3rd grade English Language Arts, after Word Jobs and before Spelling Patterns.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which end mark belongs in the box?

    The library has new computers

    • .
    • ?
    • !

  2. Question 2

    Which sentence uses quotation marks correctly?

    • It is time for lunch, “said Mr. Chen.”
    • “It is time” for lunch, said Mr. Chen.
    • “It is time for lunch,” said Mr. Chen.
    • “It is time for lunch, said Mr. Chen.”

  3. Question 3

    What is the contraction for “was not”?

    • was'nt
    • wasnt
    • wasn't

  4. Question 4

    Which sentence uses commas correctly?

    • We saw a moose, a heron, and two frogs.
    • We saw a moose a heron, and two frogs.
    • We saw a moose a heron and two frogs.

  5. Question 5

    Which date is written correctly?

    • june 18, 2026
    • June, 18 2026
    • June 18, 2026

  6. Question 6

    Which sentence uses quotation marks correctly?

    • Where are my boots? “asked Amir.”
    • “Where are” my boots? asked Amir.
    • “Where are my boots? asked Amir.”
    • “Where are my boots?” asked Amir.

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