How to Teach Quotation Marks
With only fourteen punctuation marks, quotation marks are a must-learn part of grammar. Discover how to teach quotation marks to kids.
Using Quotation Marks
Quotation marks set words apart from the rest of the text.
Quotation marks come as a set: opening quotation marks and closing quotation marks.
There are several reasons to use quotation marks. Here are the most common:
To Quote from a Source
If you want to use the exact words from a text you set it in quotation marks.
Webster’s Dictionary defines a dolphin as “small marine toothed whales.”
To Show Dialogue
You can use quotations marks to enclose the exact words a person says.
Maggie replied, “I ate the last cookie.”
You don’t need quotation marks if you are paraphrasing what the person said. That is called an indirect quotation.
Maggie admitted that she ate the last cookie.
Titles of Songs, Poems, and Short Stories
While many titles of larger works are underlined, titles of shorter works like songs, poems, and short stories are put in quotation marks.
“The Star Spangled Banner” is our national anthem.
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Teaching Quotation Marks
Before you teach kids about how to use quotation marks, they need to know how to recognize them.
Show your students what quotation marks look like.
Introduce them to both opening and closing quotation marks.
If your students already know about parentheses, you can compare them to quotation marks.
They both hug words the same way.
Seek and Find Quotation Marks
Give students a highlighter and a copy of passage of text with many sets of quotation marks.
This could be a selection from a story that the children know and like.
Go on a quotation mark seek and find. Tell students how many sets of quotation marks are in the passage, and see if they can find them all.
Quotation Marks Trace and Copy
Students can learn to write quotation marks by tracing them. Use a dotted letter font to print sentences with quotation marks for student to trace.
Subsequently, students can copy short sentences with quotation marks.
It is always best to copy quotation marks surrounding words and not in isolation, so students can understand how opening and closing quotation marks work.
Air Quotes
Have students read aloud passages with quotation marks and use air quotes when they see opening and closing quotation marks.
The more students pay attention to the correct use of quotation marks, the faster they will learn correct usage in their own writing.
Activities for Punctuation in Direct Quotations
When you are quoting dialogue or a source text, you need to set apart the quoted text from the rest of the sentence.
This involves using a comma.
Xander asked, “Are you going?”
If a quotation has ending punctuation, you use that punctuation mark or you replace it with a comma in certain circumstances.
“I am going,” answered Kayla.
This is further complicated by the location of the quotation within the sentence (beginning, middle, or end).
- “I also hope to see the band play,” added Raymond.
- “I also hope,” Raymond added, “to see the band play.”
- Raymond added, “I also hope to see the band play.”
Students struggle to remember to put the punctuation mark inside or outside the quotation.
While you will in no doubt teach each of these rules explicitly, it will help if you reinforce your lesson with activities.
Comic Strip Quotations
Comic strips get around quotations by showing action and using speech bubbles.
First, ask your students to act out the comic strip. You can set the scene and provide the narration.
They will say the dialogue.
Once students understand the flow of the story, have students transcribe a comic strip into a very short story with quotations.
Character Story
Pick a familiar story like “Chicken Little,” “The Three Little Pigs,” or “The Three Little Pigs.”
Find a simple version of the story with dialogue.
Read it to the students, and ask them to identify the characters.
Give the students a copy of the story without any quotation marks.
(You can differentiate this lesson by having a copy with quotation marks as a model for some students).
Using colored pencils or highlighters, assign a color to each character.
Underline the exact words each character says with their associated color.
Next, assign the characters to the students and have them act out the story, saying the dialogue.
Once that task is done, have them go back to the story and add in the quotation marks.
Practice the Quotation of the Day
Do you use a daily inspirational quotation? Have students copy the quotation with quotation marks.
Here are some ideas:
- Self-Esteem Quotes for Kids
- Back to School Quotes for Kids
- 50 Quotes for Kids About Love
- 17 Inspirational Quotes for Kids
- 50 Growth Mindset Quotes to Encourage Kids
Teaching Quotations to Kids
Quotations are tricky to master, but with patient instruction and these fun activities, kids will get the hang of them in no time.
