Apostrophes serve two purposes: possession and contraction. For one activity, devise a series of sentences with possessives and contractions in them. Instruct the student to circle and label all the possessives and contractions in the sentences. For example, "The girl's doll didn't come with a bottle." The student would circle "girl's" and put a "P" above it for possessive and circle "didn't" and put a "C" above it for contraction. For extra points, the child can also translate the contraction into the words that it means. For example, "didn't" would be "did not."
"Its" and "It's" are commonly confused. "It's" is the contraction meaning "it is" and "its" is the possessive of "it." Remind your child that if he can substitute "it is" in the sentence, then it should be "it's," the contraction. For this activity, come up with a list of sentences that have "its" throughout. The student must decide if it takes an apostrophe or not; if it does, he adds it in the text. For example, a couple of sentences might be: "The company had its annual picnic at the park" and "Its very hot outside today." (The apostrophe would be added in the second sentence.)
Parentheses are used around words and phrases that add information, emphasize a point or make an idea more clear in a sentence. Since the use of parentheses is somewhat subjective, have the student write a short, creative essay about something personal to her including a few sentences with parentheses. Give her some examples before starting: "I love to play outside with my friends (even if Sarah can be mean sometimes)." Or, "My favorite subject is music (when I get to sing a solo, of course)."
Parentheses set apart words and phrases in a sentence that usually can be left out if the parentheses were not there. Write a series of sentences that include some information that can be grouped into parentheses. Have the student add parentheses where he thinks they should go. For example, a sentence might be: "I want to go to Disney World on an airplane even if I'm afraid of flying and meet Mickey Mouse." The parentheses would go around "even if I'm afraid of flying."
If your student learns better with visual and tactile methods, try using games and flash cards to teach apostrophes and parentheses. For apostrophes, make flash cards with contractions. When you lift them up, the student will respond with the words that they represent. For example, a flash card with "I'm" should trigger the response "I am." For a game, use a dry erase board and markers to have the child write a sentence with the correct punctuation -- including apostrophes and parentheses -- in a certain amount of time. Read a sentence and give the student 15 to 30 seconds to write and punctuate it correctly.