CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.2.2c
The Standard
Use an apostrophe to form contractions and frequently occurring possessives.
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts
What This Standard Means
Students need to know that an apostrophe can show letters left out in a contraction, like cannot becoming can’t. They also need to use an apostrophe to show ownership in common singular nouns, like the dog’s bowl or Mom’s keys.
Mastery looks like choosing the right form in their own writing and explaining what the apostrophe is doing. Students often mix up plurals and possessives, add apostrophes to every word ending in s, or confuse its and it’s. They need repeated practice with real sentences, not just worksheets.
Ways to Teach It
- Give partners word cards like do not, she is, and the cat, then have them build contractions and possessive phrases with apostrophe cards.
- Ask students to write three sentences about a lost backpack, using one contraction and one possessive in each sentence.
- Show five sentences on the board, and have students hold up C for contraction or P for possessive after reading each apostrophe word.
- Bring in a classroom object, like a teacher’s mug, and have students label ownership phrases for items around the room.
Plan a Lesson for CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.2.2c
Generate a complete lesson plan aligned to this standard, with objectives, activities, and materials. Free, no account needed.
Related Standards
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.1b
Form and use regular and irregular plural nouns.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.1.1b
Use common, proper, and possessive nouns.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.2d
Form and use possessives.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.1.1d
Use personal, possessive, and indefinite pronouns (e.g., I, me, my; they, them, their; anyone, everything).