Our classroom “Quote of the Day” sets the tone for our day. It gives us a focus, sparks conversation, and helps us make connections we never knew existed.

Our quote also gives students a new focus if they had something bothering them before school.

Sometimes children will have a lot on their minds and will walk into the room worrying. Maybe their parents were yelling at them on their way to school.  Maybe they had a disagreement with their best friend at recess.  By starting class with a quote, students have something else to focus on. 

The quotes I use are all specifically chosen to be positive and uplifting in order to set a positive tone when walking in the room.

First, I like to display the quote on a write and wipe board I hang outside my classroom door where the students meet before the first bell. This gives them something positive to think about and talk about at arrival. After giving them time to settle in with our morning routines we have a morning meeting and this is when we have a discussion time where kids can share what they think the quote is about and what it means to them.

When I first began teaching, I felt like it was my job is to get the kids to be quiet. Now that I have leaned to build community and approach behavior management with a growth mindset approach, as I explain in detail in Chapter 10 of Educate the Heart, I feel that it’s my job to help my students find their voice.  And it’s a job I truly love.

Quotes have the ability to spark great conversations in the classroom. This gives us as teachers the opportunity to teach kids to debate, defend their ideas, and disagree respectfully. These important life skills also help students find their voice when writing.

Using a quote as a writing prompt gives students the opportunity to practice opinion writing. They learn to write an argument while supporting their ideas.  Students need a lot of practice taking a stance and looking for evidence to prove their stance.  Responding to a quote can be an excellent opportunity for children to practice this skill.

Quotes can even be used as a personal narrative writing prompt by asking students to tell about how a quote relates to a moment in their life or a person they’ve known.

I use many quotes related to holidays or social studies units to extend the learning of important days such as Martin Luther King Jr. Day, President’s Day, and also to help celebrate Black History Month. Many teachers integrate most of their social studies and history into reading and writing time because they don’t have enough time for it on their given schedule. A quote related to a topic or person makes the integration of any subject more personal and meaningful.

A quote can be the best inspiration for children to express themselves artistically either individually or as a collaborative group project. For example you can display a quote on a bulletin board or chart paper and have children work together to create visual representations of what the quote means to them.

One quote I’ve used in this way is Dolly Patton’s “If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours!” Another really great one that encourages artistic expression is Maya Angelou’s “Be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud.”

We recently did a special project in collaboration with the executive director of special populations at Providence Public Schools, Edda Carmadello. Each child in my class choose their favorite kindness quote out of all we had focused on throughout the first quarter of school and incorporated it into a self portrait. Their projects are now displayed in the district office, welcoming all families and staff who happen to walk by.

I often come across quotes that are meaningful to me without even really looking for them and I collect them in a journal. Many of these are quotes I present to my class and I’m amazed at the different interpretations from the children.

If I have a specific topic or person I want to explore with my class, I’ll often do some research and find ideas within children’s books. Other times, I head to Pinterest to find just the right quote of the day.

Do you use quotes in your classroom? What are your favorites to use when you are teaching and how have you integrated them into your lesson plans? I’d love to hear your ideas and connect further.

Please feel free to leave me a comment, email, message, or even a link if you have something to share, and I will get back to you in a timely manner.

Thank you so much for your time and attention attention. I hope you found this post worthwhile and hope that it has inspired you to try something new.

Yours truly,

Jennifer