When in the revising stage, we "listened" for the errors. With CUPS, we "look" for errors. Get out those magnifying glasses! Oh yeah! Use magnifying glasses in class to support this step of the writing process. Students will take 5 days to edit their papers using CUPS.

1.  What is CUPS?
2.  Capitals
3.  Usage
4.  Punctuation
5.  Spelling

For CUPS, I ask students to use a different color pen than used for revising. If they want to use multiple colors, I am ok with that too. Whatever it takes for them to be excited about revising and editing, I take it! During the editing process, have a dictionary available!

The skills that should be covered for Grades 3-5 are the following:

Capitals- beginning of the sentence, I, proper nouns, titles, inside quotes.

Usage- subject-verb agreement, double negatives, sentence fragments, run-on sentences, verb forms and tenses, pronoun case forms.

Punctuation- End of sentences, commas in a series, quotations, combine sentences

Spelling Rules-

1.  Always put a u after a q. (quack, quiet)
2.  Every syllable has a vowel.
3.  The “soft” sound of c (s sound) or g (j sound) is usually foll0wed by i, y, or e. (city, gym)
4.  Write I before e except after c or when sounded like a. (thief, believe, ceiling, receive, neighbor, weigh)
5.  Spelling Rules for Adding Inflectional Endings to Words
A. Most words- Add the ending. (talk- talked, talking)
B. Words ending in a single vowel and consonant- Double the final consonant and add the ending. (stop- stopped, stopping)
C. Words ending in silent e- Drop the e before adding the ending. (bake, baked, baking)
D. Words end in a consonant and y- Change the y to and i then add the ending unless the ending is -ing. (hurry- hurried, hurrying)
E. Words that end in ss, ch, sh, zz, or x: Add –es (foxes, wishes)

After sharing the meaning of CUPS, have students add it to their notebooks. Look at this cutie and her cup!


I love how my students like to make their own way of having an interactive notebook. I told them to cut out the front of the cup and open it up to take notes. Then I said, "Unless you have another idea!" This student decided to cut out each of the CUPS and put it in the cup.