Mr. Giso's Room to Read's Bright Idea #9

Look Who's Talking Elbow Pasta Quotation Marks

When it's time to review quotations marks, my first grade teacher neighbor loves this activity!  We have the students write sentences on sentence strips and use pasta for the quotation marks.  This lesson has not been one of my favorites because it's always a challenge for students to copy over their edited sentences with the punctuation in the correct spot.  Each year I try something new to be more effective.  This year, I think I've got it!

First, I began this minilesson with a pocket chart discussion on the rug.  We read several sentences and put in the paper punctuation.

Next, comes the new part.  I created two templates that include the punctuation in the correct places.  I had the students write a sentence about something they'd like to say.  Here's an example.

After this, I edited the sentences and had the students copy their edited writing onto sentence strips using pencil.  When this was completed, they wrote in permanent marker.  Lastly, they glued elbow macaroni for the quotation marks.  Look at these fantastic sentences!

To celebrate, each student read their quotation in our Author Throne.  I chimed in with the "said___________" part.  Click HERE for a previous post about my famous Author Throne.  If you'd like the templates and the directions, click HERE to be linked to my TpT store.  It's a pleasure to share with you this free item.