1. Do Now Write down your homework (15-20 minutes of free reading) Have your homework out on your desk Have your comma rules out on your desk. Share with your table group and see what is on others’ lists and what you remembered that others didn’t.

2. Agenda Gather comma rules from our homework Mini-Lesson: Independent and Dependent Clauses Group Worksheet Exit Ticket: Individual

3. What do we remember? What comma rules did you have written down last night? What terminology or grammar vocabulary did you include?

4. Basic Rules (Remembering Back…) Use commas when making a list… My sister runs on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. In this class, we put a comma before the “and” to avoid confusion Use commas when writing a date… Today is Wednesday, April 15, 2015. Use commas when introducing a quote… Johnny said, “Stay gold, Ponyboy, stay gold.”

5. When and how this get more advanced… When you are building complex and longer sentences. Commas help you avoid only writing short, choppy sentences. Compare… I went to Richmond, Virginia. I visited my sister. We had a BBQ over the weekend. There was a ton of food. I went to Richmond, Virginia, and I visited my sister. We had a BBW, so there was a ton of food.

6. Independent and Dependent Clauses Clause: A group of words containing a subject and a predicate. Independent (Main) Clause: A part of a sentence that can stand on its own. Dependent (Subordinate) Clause: An incomplete part of a sentence that needs and extra clause to help it be complete and stand on its own.

7. Examples…

8. Identify Kara, my sister, is graduating in a few weeks! When I was younger, I met my friend Sammy.