a. Use commas in addresses.
b. Use commas and quotation marks in dialogue.
c. Use commas and quotation marks to mark direct speech and quotations from a text.
d. Use a comma before a coordinating conjunction in a compound sentence.
e. Use a comma to separate an introductory element from the rest of a sentence.
f. Use a comma to set off the words yes and no (e.g., Yes, thank you), to set off a tag
question from the rest of the sentence (e.g., It’s true, isn’t it?) and to indicate direct
address (e.g., Is that you, Steve?)
g. Use underlining, quotation marks, or italics to indicate titles of works.
Practice:
h. Use commas in greetings and closings of letters.
i. Use an apostrophe to form contractions and frequently occurring possessives.
j. Generalize learned spelling patterns when writing words (e.g., cage → badge; boy →
boil).
k. Form and use possessives.
l. Use conventional spelling for high-frequency and other studied words.
m. Add prefixes and suffixes to base words (e.g., sitting, smiled, cries, happiness).
n. Use punctuation to separate items in a series.
o. Spell grade-appropriate words correctly, consulting references as needed and/or using
spelling patterns and generalizations. (e.g., word families,
Display proficiency in:
p. Capitalize dates and names of people.
q. Use end punctuation for sentences.
r. Use commas in dates and to separate single words in a series.
s. Use conventional spelling for words with common spelling patterns and for frequently
occurring irregular words.
t. Spell untaught words phonetically, drawing on phonemic awareness and spelling
conventions.
u. Capitalize holidays, product names, and geographic names.
v. Capitalize important words in titles.
Proficiency Scale