The "And" Attack!

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The "And" Attack!
By Amanda K

My first graders sound like your first graders... they are in love with the word "and"! I tell my kids (repeatedly) that only one "and" is allowed in each sentence. I tell them when I am reviewing their individual papers
that if they need another "and," then they should just put a period down and start a new sentence with a capital letter. This seemed to sink in this last year, but I didn't see total compliance until mid-May.
My main problem this last year was with question marks. My kids could easily tell me during D.O.L. where the question marks went, but some of them interchanged question marks

for periods, and vice versa, all the time during creative writing. Finally, I told them that if they weren't sure, then they should turn to their deskmate and read the sentence to them. If their friend was able to give them an answer, then the sentence was a question and needed a question mark. If not, then probably just a period would do. My creative writing time was then not as quiet as I normally like, but it really helped the kids who were struggling with the concept.