1st Edition
Descriptosaurus Punctuation in Action Year 1: The Ninjabread Girl
The Gingerbread Man was rather a handful, but wait until you meet the Ninjabread Girl! With a "Hiiiiii-yaaaaa!" she runs away saying, "Run! Run! So fast like a twirl … you can’t catch me, I’m the Ninjabread Girl!" Can the Ninjitsu Trainer catch her? What about the crocodile? Or the wolf? Can nothing stop her?
On her journey, the Ninjabread Girl writes the story with the assistance of the spirit fox Kitsune and Punctua, the Fairy Godmother of Writing, to punctuate properly and become a bestselling author.
Descriptosaurus Punctuation in Action Year 1: The Ninjabread Girl is part of a short series of age-specific, beautifully illustrated stories that can be read for pleasure and/or used as a contextualised resource, containing a step-by-step guide to teaching punctuation. The characters from each story are used to demonstrate a range of punctuation rules in a fun and engaging way appropriate to the book's age group. Areas covered include:
- formulating punctuation rules.
- the use of misconceptions to highlight common errors.
- teaching tips to provide a punctuation model.
The book explores the impact of punctuation on reading, understanding, meaning and effect, and can be used as a basis for pupils’ own punctuation or included in their ‘Writer’s Toolkit.' These new Descriptosaurus stories are an indispensable teaching aid for making punctuation fun for all primary teachers and literacy coordinators.
Acknowledgements
Introduction
PART A: THE STORY OF THE NINJABREAD GIRL
CHAPTER 1 The Ninjabread Girl
PART B: LEARNING PUNCTUATION WITH THE CHARACTERS
CHAPTER 2 Meet the Characters
Section 1: The Ninjabread Girl
Section 2: Kitsune
Section 3: Punctua (the Fairy Godmother of Writing)
CHAPTER 3 Editing a Story
Section 1: Writing and Editing Tips
Section 2: Sentences
Section 3: Comma Splicing
CHAPTER 4 Capital Letters
Section 1: Beginning of a sentence/names of people
Section 2: Names of places
Section 3: Days of the Week and Months of the Year
Section 4: Editing checklist
CHAPTER 5 Question Marks
CHAPTER 6 Exclamation Marks
CHAPTER 7 Inverted Commas (Speech Marks)
Section 1: When and How to Use Inverted Commas
Section 2: How to Punctuate Inside the Inverted Commas
CHAPTER 8 Apostrophes
Section 1: Apostrophes for Possession
Section 2: Apostrophes for Contraction
CHAPTER 9 Commas
Section 1: In a list
Section 2: To avoid misunderstandings
Section 3: To separate parts of a sentence
APPENDIX
Ninjabread Girl’s Editing Checklist Level 1: punctuation
Ninjabread Girl’s Editing Checklist Level 2: punctuation
Kitsune’s Challenge
Certificate: Editing Level 1
Certificate: Editing Level 2
Biography
Adam Bushnell is an award-winning and Amazon number one best-selling author of fictional and academic books. He works in the UK and internationally in both state and private education delivering creative writing workshops to all ages. His books have been selected by the School Library Association for the "Boys into Books" recommended reading list. Previously a teacher, Adam also delivers CPD to teachers and others working in education on how to inspire writing in the classroom.
