CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.2

ELAGrades K–12Conventions of Standard English

The Standard

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Language

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students apply grade-appropriate rules for capital letters, punctuation, and spelling in their own writing. They reread and edit so errors do not confuse the reader.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student writes a short piece with grade-appropriate capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. When given a draft, the student finds errors, makes accurate corrections, and explains the changes.
Common Misconceptions: Students may capitalize words because they seem important or place commas wherever they pause while speaking. They may trust a spell checker even when a correctly spelled word is used incorrectly.
How to Assess It: Give students a four-sentence paragraph containing six capitalization, punctuation, and spelling errors. Ask them to correct each error and explain two changes.

Lesson moves

Give pairs sentence strips with missing capitals and punctuation, then have them add marks with colored pens and justify each choice.
Ask students to write four sentences about a school event, then explain how their punctuation helps the reader understand each sentence.
Run an editing relay where teams correct one error at a time in a projected paragraph and earn points for accurate explanations.
Have students proofread a mock school announcement before publication, correcting errors that could confuse families or change the message.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.2, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.

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