Spring Break is right around the corner my friends…you are almost there or maybe just came back in from break. I’m happy to share some ideas on teaching quotation marks for my newest edition of Wait for it Wednesday.
We have a lot going on right now…state testing is just around the corner so we are reviewing and finishing up covering anything we may have ahem skimmed over. We have Spring Break in a few days and Open House almost right when we get back. So I’m flying in over drive right now. I’ve been really trying to think of fun, creative ways… WAYS to get things to stick in their brains lately to really have things stay with them. So if you follow me on Instagram – you’ve seen my stories where I’m getting them outside, having them move around and create or manipulate things with partners. Anything to help get things to stay. HEY, I’ve even rapped a perimeter song and I DO NOT sing. LOL
So, with that being said, I knew I needed to get my students up and moving and thinking when it came to quotation marks. Paper and pencil just doesn’t cut it anymore!
I first created 3 sentences and made them into word puzzles. So they were all scrambled when I presented them to the group I was working with the other day. They had to first work together to unscramble the words and find what made sense.
Here they are trying to figure out what order the words go in to make sentences and then decide who might say those sentences. After that I handed out 2 quotation mark sticks and had kids stand up holding the words to form the sentence. The quotation mark kids had to find their spot in the sentence. It was very engaging and fun to watch the rest of the class when they noticed someone heading for the wrong spot. They were quick to point out – oops, try again or don’t go there. They were like little teachers making me proud.
They kids with the word cards lined up in order at the front of the room and the kids with the quotation marks on a stick had to squeeze in where they thought they should go.
Give it a try, just write 3 sentences out with word cards let them unscramble which is fun PLUS it gives you some insight on their thinking. If they are realizing someone is ‘speaking’/dialogue is happening then you can see how they put the sentences together. For instance, who is buying lunch would make the most sense if the teacher asked that question. So they need to make an inference and put Mrs. Moore said with that sentence etc.
Let me know how it goes if you try it out. I know my kids really enjoyed this activity and I know it ‘stuck’ with them because they did well on a follow up quiz. =)
Happy Teaching! xo,
