Exclamation Mark (and Question Mark and Period) in Room 1

I read Exclamation Mark by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld to the first graders. The theme is about accepting who you are and appreciating what makes you different.

The book is also, however, about punctuation. After reading the book, I gave all the students two out of three possible punctuation marks. Then I put sample sentences up on the screen; if a student had the correct ending punctuation, they held it up. At the end, they all held up their favorite (mine is a semi-colon, but it's a little advanced for first grade and was not featured in the book).

Let's demonstrate.

Sentence 1: There is a bug on this book ______

Sentence 2: What kind of bug is he _____

Sentence 3: This book about insects says he is probably a stink bug _____

Note: All of these sentences are based on a true story. The kids named the bug Joey. He now lives somewhere near the tree next to the blacktop.