Teacher notes for this lesson. Two sides of A4, not for pupils.Mild sheetMedium sheetSpicy sheetAnswers
Teacher notes · not for pupils Punctuation sequence

Where Does It Stop?

Full stops, question marks and exclamation marks

Lesson 1 of 14
Year 1 45 min

Objective

Demarcate sentences with a capital letter and the correct end mark, and choose that mark by sentence type.

Board title: Ending a sentence  ·  Say it: “Today we're choosing the mark that ends each sentence, a full stop for telling, a question mark for asking, and an exclamation mark for a big feeling.”

Curriculum

  • Y1: capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks to demarcate sentences
  • Y2: sentence types, statement, question, exclamation (revisited)
  • Terminology: full stop, question mark, exclamation mark, sentence
  • STA domain: G5.1

Success criteria

  • end a telling sentence with a full stop
  • use a question mark when the sentence asks
  • use an exclamation mark for a big feeling
  • hear where one sentence ends and the next starts

Key vocabulary

sentence · full stop · question mark · exclamation mark · telling · asking

Run of the lesson

5 min
On the carpet: say Watch out two ways, flat and shouted, and ask how they knew the difference when the words were the same. Take answers, say 'hold that thought', resolve nothing.
9 min
Model the three voices, drawing the mark as you say it: The bus is here. flat, the boring safe one; Are you hungry? with the rise, then ask a child to ask you something and ask what mark they would draw; How amazing! loud. Say each one aloud twice.
8 min
Signal the Sea on the whiteboard, Mild band. Read every item aloud first so they hear the voice, then the class calls telling, asking or big feeling and votes before you tap.
5 min
Board walk the run-on: write I ran and I fell and I cried, read it aloud and mark every breath, three ideas hiding in one line. Do not ban and, ban and as a substitute for stopping. Then the four vote pairs, a child says WHY before each reveal (answers: a-left, b-right, c-right, d-left).
15 min
Worksheet, independent. Circulate on Task 2, the missing-marks café notice: the two traps are a full stop where the line ends rather than where the idea ends, and the safe full stop after Where shall we sit, so read that line back with the rise and ask again. Task 3 is the assessment, hear each sentence in its writer's voice.
3 min
Plenary: two children read a Task 3 sentence and the class calls telling, asking or big feeling. Then the class quiz: Polpetta's menu board says Come and try our soup and try our bread and try our cake, read it aloud, where do you run out of breath?
On screenSPAGhetti → Signal the Sea → Mild. One screen only; no pupil devices needed. ~8 items in 10 minutes with discussion.
SPAGhetti · Punctuation sequence · Lesson 1 of 14  ·  Teacher notes 1 of 2
Teacher notes · not for pupils Where Does It Stop? · side 2

On the day

If the tech failsSkip the game entirely. Task 1 is the same content on paper, read the four pairs aloud and vote with thumbs. The lesson still works.
If they're on devicesLesson code STOPA (on the worksheet footer) opens the right game, locks the café until 10 items are done, then unlocks it as the reward.

Misconceptions to watch for

The and and and sentence. I got up and I had toast and I went out. Have them read it aloud and mark where they take a breath. Every breath is a stop.

Exclamation marks everywhere. Once the mark is allowed it lands on everything. Give a ration: one per piece of writing, and only for a genuinely big feeling.

A stop at the end of every line. Children writing down a narrow page put a full stop where the line ends, not where the idea ends. Show them a sentence that wraps.

Asking words with a full stop. Where is my hat. They hear the question but write the safe mark. Say it back to them with the rise and ask again.

The three sheets

Same four tasks on every sheet, in the same order, with the same look. Only the demand changes. Print the one each child needs; nobody does two.

Mild

Same four tasks as every other sheet, same order, same look, the demand is lower, not the dignity. Shorter passage in Task 2, and in Task 3 a word bank or words to tick, with printed sentence starters. Give it to anyone who needs a way in, and expect them to move up.

Medium

The core sheet. Give this to most of the class. No word bank; in Task 3 pupils choose from a few close options, then use one in a sentence of their own.

Spicy

Same four tasks, more demand, a longer passage with a subtler error, and Task 3 asks for two things at once. Not extra work; harder work. Nobody should be doing Spicy and the Medium sheet.

Adaptive teaching

  • Support: Task 1, then Task 2 with the passage read aloud a sentence at a time. Game on Mild.
  • SEN: gentle mode on; three physical mark cards to hold up instead of writing.
  • Stretch: Task 3 extension, a sentence that would change meaning with a different end mark.
  • EAL: pre-teach the rising question voice. Many first languages mark a question with a word, not a tune.

Play it

Lesson code STOPA at playspaghetti.com. The code is printed on the bottom of every pupil sheet with a QR, and Class Quiz in your dashboard opens the plenary quiz for this lesson pre-picked.

SPAGhetti · Punctuation sequence · Lesson 1 of 14  ·  Teacher notes, not for pupils 2 of 2  ·  Ludora