What If Animals Could Talk? Make Writing Dialogue Fun!

If animals could talk, what would they say? Probably a lot, and it would be fun to witness. This year, you can show your students that animals really can talk when writing dialogue! We’re so excited to share a brand new digital quotation marks practice activity featuring some of your favorite furry friends from the animal kingdom!

This engaging activity encourages students to think, talk, and write using dialogue and correct quotation mark placement in sentences. It features a blend of instructional slides and engaging activities in which students view and discuss what the animals might be saying, then write lines of dialogue to match the picture. It’s the perfect way to get them writing and thinking about using dialogue correctly.

How to Use This Resource

This resource can be used differently based on the age and ability of the students you’re using it with. It can be used as a whole-group instructional tool and an independent digital learning activity. Here are a few tips for use:

• Teacher-Led Instruction – Teach the content and work through the discussion-style activities on slides 1-12. These will need to be taught using presentation mode. Once you’ve reached slide 13 and you are ready for students to interact with the slides, switch to edit mode in order to type the dialogue into the text boxes.
• Independent Learning Activity – Provide students with their own digital copies of the resource via your LMS. Have them work through the introduction and complete the dialogue writing portion independently.
• Hybrid Activity – Blend teacher-led and independent practice by teaching the first section, then having students independently complete the remaining dialogue writing prompts.

Once your students have made their animals ‘talk’, it might be fun (and funny) to have them share their best animal conversations with the class and check for correct punctuation.

Download and Go!

This downloadable teaching resource is available as an Interactive Google Slides Activity. To get your new resource, click the download button. You will be prompted to make your own copy. From there, you’re ready to start teaching!

This resource was created by Lindsey Phillips, a teacher in Michigan and Teach Starter Collaborator.

More Ideas for Teaching How to Use Quotation Marks

Are you looking for more? Make sure you grab these handy worksheets and resources while you’re here!

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Reinforce understanding of how to punctuate direct speech with differentiated quotation marks worksheets.

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Writing Out Loud: Dialogue Punctuation Worksheet

Practice using quotation marks in writing with a Punctuating Dialogue worksheet.