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3rd grade · English Language Arts · Unit 4 of 15

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.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 3.11(D) · commas, apostrophes and quotation marks

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 Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 4 of 15 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: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

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?

    How beautiful the sunset is

    • .
    • ?
    • !

  2. Question 2

    Which sentence uses quotation marks correctly?

    • “I found” a frog! shouted Zoe.
    • “I found a frog! shouted Zoe.”
    • “I found a frog!” shouted Zoe.
    • I found a frog! “shouted Zoe.”

  3. Question 3

    What is the contraction for “you are”?

    • your
    • you're
    • youre

  4. Question 4

    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.”

  5. Question 5

    Which sentence uses commas correctly?

    • Maya packed apples grapes and crackers.
    • Maya packed apples, grapes, and, crackers.
    • Maya packed apples, grapes, and crackers.

  6. Question 6

    What is the contraction for “did not”?

    • did'nt
    • didnt
    • didn't

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