Punctuation for primary
Welcome to Komodo's blog page for all things punctuation.
We'll start with the most basic punctuation that kids are exposed to in reception and year 1. Then we'll move through the years to the trickier elements of punctuation that children are expected to tackle towards the end of primary school.
Capital letters
Capital letters are an important punctuation. They are also called uppercase, and they appear in very specific places in our writing.
Some capital letters are easy for kids to learn because they are just bigger and taller versions of their lowercase counterparts, but some trickier ones look like they are barely related at all!
Where do we use capital letters?
Every sentence starts with a capital letter. Remind your child to double check that the first letter of the first word in every sentence is written in upper case.
Children will also learn to capitalise proper nouns. Proper nouns are the names we give to people, places and occasions. For example, Jon went to Paris at Easter, which was the first Sunday in April.
End marks
An end mark is the symbol that we put at the end of a sentence. It is often a full stop, but can be a question mark or an exclamation mark.
Full stops look like little dots and they signify that a sentence has ended. The next word to come after a full stop must always start with - you've guessed it - a capital letter.
Curly looking question marks turn a sentence into a query:
Exclamation marks add a sense of urgency or emphasis. Use sparingly!
Commas
Commas help to make meaning clear by separating different elements in a sentence.
In the early years of primary school, children learn to use them to separate a list of words in a sentence.
If we are writing a sentence that includes a list of items, we separate them using commas. For example:
I bought bread, eggs, juice and cheese.
A list for the purposes of punctuation is any group of adjectives used together. For example:
The castle was creepy, dark and haunted.
Note that in the UK we generally don't use a comma before the word 'and' unless it is a complex sentence that needs the comma for clarity - kids learn about this a few years down the line!
Punctuating interjections
Commas are also used for punctuating interjections.
Interjections are words that express a feeling, make a demand or emphasise a phrase. They are separated from the words around them by commas when the interjection is mild. For example:
Oh, I didn't know you were coming.
or, No, I can't go out this evening.
If the interjection is strong, we can use an exclamation mark, for example,
Ouch! That was my toe.
About Komodo - Komodo is a fun and effective way to boost primary maths and literacy skills. Designed for 5 to 11-year-olds to use at home, Komodo uses a 'little and often' approach to learning that fits into busy family life. Komodo helps users develop fluency and confidence in maths and English - without keeping them at the screen for long.
